In Blois (Loir-et-Cher), police opened fire Thursday evening on a man armed with a knife who threatened them. “In the state of the investigations carried out, the use of the service weapon by a police officer is analyzed as entering into a case of self-defense to an attack by an armed man”, indicated the public prosecutor of Blois Frédéric Chevalier.
A criminal investigation for attempted murder of the police has been entrusted to the judicial police of Tours.
Multiple LBD shots
The individual wandered Thursday around 10 p.m. in the streets of Blois dressed in a “black t-shirt and boxers”, “barefoot” and “bloody from the chest to the waist and armed with a knife”.
While he was at the entrance to a residence for seniors, the police asked him to drop his weapon, but he then walked towards them, threatening. “A police officer then used a tazzer without effect for the first time”, then several LBD shots also without effect.
“On the contrary, the individual was advancing towards the police”, underlined the prosecutor adding, “at this time, a police officer was using his service weapon, a Sig Sauer 9 mm, four times”. Hit by a gunshot wound to the chest, the man could only be brought under control after a final LBD shot.
A young person who “knew anxieties”
Admitted to the Blois hospital center, the 26-year-old man whose vital prognosis was engaged was operated on. Friday evening his condition was stabilized. “No words were spoken by the man that could have been linked to political or religious demands,” said Frédéric Chevallier.
According to the first elements of the investigation, this young Moroccan, unknown to the police and justice services, had been living in France since September 2021 and has a student visa. For several days he “knew anxieties, of undetermined origins”, reported the magistrate.