Tragedy as gunman kills father, three siblings in France

Tragedy as a man in his twenties has reportedly killed five of his family members including his father and three younger siblings after he took them hostage.

WITHIN NIGERIA learnt that the 22-year-old man barricaded himself in a house with his father, stepmother and three children in the small eastern town of Douvres about 30 miles east of Lyon on Tuesday night, July 19.

Local reports said negotiators descended on the scene overnight and set up a perimeter around the town, before they ‘attempted in vain to remain in contact with the suspect throughout the night’.

Early Wednesday, the man, armed with a firearm and a large katana, began executing his family members.

Armed police officers stormed the house and killed him, but it was late to save all five hostages, including the three children, who all had been executed.

French outlet Le Progres reported that the shooter’s father was the head of a building company in the Ain region, of which Douvres is a part.

The killer’s other victims included his mother-in-law, originally from Gironde, his 17 -year-old sister, his 15-year-old half-brother and his 5-year-old half-sister.

Town mayor Christian Limousin said the family had moved into the house where the murders took place in July of 2020 and ‘began to invest in the village’.

A family acquaintance who visited the scene told Le Soir that the killer worked at a local fast food restaurant, but gave no indication to his physical or mental condition prior to the attack.

Having set up a perimeter during the night to close off the town, authorities told local business and shops not to open while they continued their attempts to negotiate with the hostage taker.

The owner of the village bar, which sits in the town square, said she was told around 8:30am local time by gendarmes not to open the premises and said the town of roughly 1,000 inhabitants were constantly calling the bar to find out what had happened.

French police are yet to release a statement on the fatal incident, while the scene as of 4pm was still heavily guarded by officers.