Villiers-le-Bel: the fleeing shooter surrenders after the fatal shot

He opened fire and shot the victim in the face on the night of March 30 to April 1 in Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d’Oise): the shooter was indicted for murder and placed in pre-trial detention . This young man aged 24, known to the courts, fled to Turkey after the events and was convinced to surrender by his relatives. He was arrested in Roissy, when he got off the plane. His victim was transported in critical condition to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, where she died from her injuries.

The events occurred on avenue Pierre-Sémard, in Villiers-le-Bel. It was around 3 a.m. when a dispute broke out between several people from the Chaldean community, in the middle of Easter. In circumstances that the investigation has not yet established with certainty, several people found themselves on the sidewalk in front of the New Oscar restaurant, which was closed. The shooter then took out a large caliber revolver and opened fire. He only shot once, but in the face of his victim, a man in his forties. The shooter immediately fled. He will quickly take refuge in Türkiye.

The witnesses and relatives of the victim then took her by themselves to the emergency room of the Gonesse hospital center. Due to the seriousness of his condition, the injured man, whose life-threatening prognosis was in jeopardy, was transferred to the Parisian Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital where he was plunged into a coma.

“He can’t explain why he did that.”

The investigation was entrusted to SIPJ 95, the interdepartmental service of the judicial police of Val-d’Oise. Last week, the police were warned that the suspect was going to surrender and arrested him on Friday at Roissy airport as he returned from Turkey to surrender. During his hearing, he did not explain the reasons for his action nor described the circumstances of the tragedy. He was then indicted for murder by an investigating judge and placed under arrest warrant.

“He can’t explain why he did this,” confided his lawyer, Mr. Jacky Attias, this Tuesday. “My client was one of the best friends of the person he shot,” he adds, specifying that the accused had left for Turkey “in panic”.

The alleged shooter is known to the courts for his involvement in drug cases but also violence, particularly against people holding public authority, which earned him a year in prison. He was also sentenced in 2019 to 4 years in prison, including two years, in a case of reciprocal stabbing violence with another person. It caused him 75 days of total incapacity for work.