After refusing to comply, a police officer opened fire four times at the threatening individual. The man died in hospital from his injuries.
A 46-year-old man was fatally injured by the shots by a policeman Monday in Saint-Denis-de-la-Réunion where he had just stabbed the uncle of his ex-companion who came between her and him, we learned from the prosecution.
The facts occurred in La Bretagne, a district of Saint-Denis. Armed with a knife, the forties had come threaten with death his ex-girlfriend.
Refusal to comply
“His uncle (aged 76) who intervened (…) was then wounded by weapon four times“, said Véronique Denizot, prosecutor of Saint-Denis, in a press release Monday evening. The vital prognosis of the septuagenarian is not engaged. The witnesses notified the emergency services and the police.
A crew of three police officers were the first to arrive at the scene of the altercation. Shortly after the assailant returned to the home of his ex-companion “always armed with his knife“, indicates the magistrate.
Despite police summonses for him to lay down his knife, “the individual did not comply and forced one of the police officers … to back down“until we meet again”blocked by a wall behind him“. After from “last warnings without any effect, the individual continuing his menacing progress“, the policeman drew his weapon and”fired four shots at the individual“, says Véronique Denizot.
The other police officers present provided first aid to the assailant and help was called. The man was then transferred to hospital where he died. An autopsy will take place on Tuesday to clarify the cause of death.
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The prosecution opened three investigations. The first relates to the violence with a weapon committed by the respondent on the uncle of his ex-partner. The second on the attempted murder of the policeman by the assailant. The third relates tothe use of his weapon by the police officer, for intentional violence resulting in death without intention to give it“, according to the prosecutor. The policeman “is currently heard in open audition“. “Only the elements of the investigation will be able to make it possible to retain or notSelf-defense, said the magistrate.
This is the first time in 18 years that a police officer from Reunion fatally shoots a person. In 2005, the police shot dead a man in Saint-Paul (west of the island) who had just shot and killed his former employer and the wife of an ex-colleague during an end-of-year meal. .
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