A picture taken on January 28, 2021 shows a view of a plant of FAUN company, where an employee was shot by a gunman in Guilherand-Granges.

- A man shot dead an employee at an agency of France's national employment agency Pole Emploi in Valence, before heading to Guilherand-Granges, where he wounded another woman, who died later.

The gunman was arrested shortly afterwards and taken into custody.

(Photo by PHILIPPE DESMAZES / AFP) -

AFP

  • A Pôle Emploi advisor and a company employee were shot dead this Thursday morning in Valence and Guilherand-Granges.

  • The suspect in the two murders, a 45-year-old unemployed engineer, was arrested and taken into police custody.

    We do not yet know what motivated his double acting out.

A double passage to the act which took place in half an hour.

This Thursday morning, a Pôle Emploi advisor was shot dead in Valence (Drôme) by a suspect who then went to a company in Guilherand-Granges (Ardèche), to shoot a second woman.

The man was arrested and taken into custody.

20 Minutes

takes stock of what we know for the moment of the unfolding of the facts and the profile of the suspect.

A fatal shot at the Pôle Emploi agency

According to the first elements, the 45-year-old man went at 8:30 am to the Pôle Emploi agency located avenue Victor-Hugo in Valence, alone and armed.

"For some reason we do not know, he spoke to a 53-year-old employee and he fired a shot at her," said the prosecutor of the Republic of Valencia Alex Perrin.

Hit in the chest, the victim died in the moments following the shooting.

The prosecution does not yet know if the suspect knew his victim, if it was his advisor or if he was even registered with a Pôle Emploi agency.

Then, without using his weapon again, the man left the scene to continue his murderous journey.

A second victim in a company where he worked

This engineer, currently unemployed, then crossed the Rhône at the wheel of his red Honda and went at 9 am to the company Faun Environnement, the European leader in vehicles intended for the collection of household waste, where he worked a few years ago according to the parquet.

“It seems that he asked to see the person in charge of the company,” adds Alex Perrin.

He then fired twice at the site's HRD, 51, who died shortly after from her injuries.

He then took his vehicle back to Valence and was finally arrested after trying to force a police roadblock on the Mistral bridge that he had just taken in the wrong direction.

A suspect unknown to the police

The man suspected of having shot these two women in cold blood has never been talked about.

“We don't know much about him.

It would seem that he is not known (to the police and the judiciary) and we do not know his motivations, ”added the Valencia prosecutor.

According to the LR mayor of Valencia, Nicolas d'Aragon, who expressed “the amazement, sadness and astonishment at this totally unpredictable and gratuitous act” in his town, the suspect “worked ten years ago in the region ”and was registered with the city's employment center until 2013. But he had“ no connection ”with the two victims.

This forty-something, originally from Nancy no longer lived in Valence.

So, madness or act of revenge?

The investigation, entrusted by the prosecution to the Valence branch of the Lyon judicial police, will have to determine what motivated the act of the suspect, including a weapon, having probably been used at Pôle Emploi and at Faun, was found this Thursday morning in Guilherand-Granges.

Pôle emploi agencies closed in the region

In the morning, a psychological unit was set up at the Valence employment center.

Then, agencies throughout the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region were closed on Thursday.

"The management has taken the decision to close the physical and telephone reception, as well as the training programs scheduled in the 98 agencies in the region," said the communication service of Pôle Emploi in the region.

On Friday, the general management of Pôle Emploi decided to let the agencies on the national territory close.

"In solidarity with the victim's family, his relatives and all his colleagues, a minute of silence will be observed at noon throughout the establishment," specifies the management.

The Minister of Labor, Employment and Integration Elisabeth Borne was to go to Valence this Thursday afternoon to support the Pôle Emploi teams.

Miscellaneous

Valence: A Pôle Emploi adviser and a woman shot dead, the shooter arrested

Miscellaneous

Romans-sur-Isère knife attack: The national anti-terrorism prosecutor takes up the investigation

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  • Murder