Authorities fear a serial killer could be loose in Paris after four killings in suburban housing estates in five months were linked to the same gun.
Authorities fear a serial killer could be loose in Paris after four killings in suburban housing estates in five months were linked to the same gun.
All the victims, apparently innocent citizens, were shot with the 7.65mm pistol by a gunman who fled on a motorbike, recalling the attacks of the Islamist extremist who killed seven people in Toulouse before he was killed himself by police last month.
The latest victim, Nadjia Boudjemia-Lahcenea, 47, of Algerian descent, was shot dead in the entrance hall to her block of flats in the Grande-Borne district of Grigny, south of the capital, on Thursday. Interior minister Claude Gueant vowed to hunt down the killer. Unlike the Mohamed Merah Toulouse killings in Toulouse, there is no suggestion of any political or religious motives.
But with ballistics analysis showing that the same weapon had been used in all four attacks, police now suspect a serial killer may have been behind all four deaths in a six-mile radius.
Several witnesses said they saw a tall, thin Caucasian man wearing a black motorcycle helmet in the vicinity, according to Le Parisien newspaper. The suspect wore a dark leather bomber jacket and a small bag. He is believed to drive a blue Suzuki GXSR 1000 motorbike. It is thought the bike has no number plate.
"We are putting every effort into finding out who is behind this," Gueant said in a radio interview. The first victim was Nathalie Davis, a 35-year-old laboratory assistant who was also shot dead in her building in Grigny on November 27.
A man who said he was her ex-boyfriend was arrested and placed under formal investigation at the time. Michel C, as the press called him, reportedly confessed to having considered taking her life, but insisting he was not the killer.
On February 22, Jean-Yves Bonnerue, 52, Davis's neighbour who had found her mortally wounded, was shot dead himself as he opened his car boot in the building's car park.
Then, on March 19, Marcel Brunetto, 81, was killed by a shot to the head with a weapon of the same calibre in the entrance to a similar block of flats in Grigny's neighbouring suburb of Ris-Orangis. The latest victim was a widow who worked at Orly Airport and lived with her 18-year-old son. "Everyone is in shock," said a neighbour. "She didn't feel threatened. She's a normal person; simple, no history."
Gueant noted that the man arrested in connection with the first killing was in jail when the latest murder took place.
"That said, this series is worthy of all our attention and we have put all our means at our disposal behind it," he said.
Prosecutor Marie-Suzanne Le Queau said all the attacks appeared to have been committed at the same time of the day, between 4pm and 6pm, adding that about 100 investigators were working on the case and that identity checks would be stepped up.
Many in France are still coming to terms with the Toulouse murders.
Police killed Merah in a shoot-out after a 32-hour siege following attacks in which he murdered three off-duty paratroopers, three Jewish children and a trainee rabbi. Gueant yesterday warned the citizens to be vigilant.
"We are observing in certain Islamist circles the desire to avenge the death of Mohamed Merah," he said.
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