A man suspected of killing three gendarmes who were responding to a domestic violence incident in the Puy-de-Dôme region of central France has been found dead, the French interior minister has said.
“Tonight, the gendarmerie has lost three of its own,” Gérald Darmanin tweeted. “The nation bows before their courage and devotion.” He added that the body of the presumed killer had been found and that he was on his way to the scene.
The three officers, aged 21, 37 and 45, were shot dead when a heavily armed man opened fire on them as they tried to rescue a woman in a house in a remote hamlet near the village of Saint-Just, south of Clermont-Ferrand, the ministry said.
It said two officers had approached the house shortly after midnight after being called about a woman who had climbed on to the roof to escape a violent attack by her partner. The 48-year-old man shot and killed one officer, wounded another in the thigh, then set fire to the house.
Two gendarmes who arrived as reinforcements were subsequently fired on and killed, the prosecutor’s office in Clermont-Ferrand said. The woman was rescued and was being questioned by police, it said.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a tweet that the nation “joins in the grief of these gendarmes’ families. Our forces act to protect us at the risk of their lives. They are our heroes.”
The mayor of Saint-Just, François Chautard, said the incident appeared to have begun with a family dispute and that armed gendarmerie units had been sent to the scene to evacuate nearby residents and secure the area.
More than 300 gendarmes were involved in the operation, with roadblocks set up on all roads leading to the house as the man drove off. Firefighters were also dispatched to the burning house to bring the blaze under control.
A major manhunt was launched overnight before the gunman, who local media said was known to authorities over failure to make maintenance payments in a child custody dispute, was found around dawn. Police sources told Le Monde he had killed himself beside his car.
Twenty-five security service personnel, including 14 gendarmes, were killed in the course of their duties in France in 2018, the most recent year for which figures are available.
