People shot in a British car Haute-Savoie

[Christine Animal]

A cyclist found a British BMW today on a forest car park with the driver and two women shot dead inside the car.  A cyclist was dead near the car and a little girl seriously wounded by the car was taken to hospital by helicopter.

http://actu.orange.fr/une/tuerie-en-haute-savoie-4-morts-une-fillette-grievement-blessee-afp_1055948.html

 

[idun]

The car was found at Chevaline in the Bauges Mountains. It is rather off the beaten track and not somewhere I have visited, although I know the Bauges quite well having quite a few friends who live up there.

I have heard of gangster shootings over the years, but a GB registered car? very odd. I'll have to see what else is said.

[5-element]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19494892

Now a 4-year old girl found unhurt inside the car, allegedly hidden for 8 hours under her mother's body.

[sid]

Crikey! Popular area for tourists at the southern end of the Lake Annecy. We've stayed at a campsite in Doussard several times.

More details on the French websites, including comments on what the Mirror and others have to say:

http://actu.orange.fr/france/haute-savoie-une-fillette-miraculee-dans-la-tuerie-d-une-famille-britannique-afp_1056814.html

[JohnM]

I suppose I can understand the gendarmes wanting to preserve the crime scene until the special investigators arrived, but you'd think they would have had enough of a look to see and rescue, that poor little girl. How come it took 8 hours for them to get there? In my view, that poor mite suffered for far longer than necessary due to Police incompetence.

[idun]

Well all I can say it's a good job that it wasn't a weekend or ferié or the police may have simply taped up the area and gone off for a day or two........ such is my confidence in their efficacity.

 

 

[HoneySuckleDreams]

[quote user="JohnM"] How come it took 8 hours for them to get there? In my view, that poor mite suffered for far longer than necessary due to Police incompetence.[/quote]

I know how you feel. Why only one specialist scene of crime unit? Surely Lyon or Marseilles would have a team as well?

And this is not an attempt at humour by the way, just the cynic in me.

The conversation in Paris

Commander:  Captain, we have a massacre in the Alps, you must leave immediatly

Captain: But what about Dinner?

Commander: Ok, you leave in 5 hours.

I am really hoping that they find who did this

 

[JohnM]

Sadly, that was my first thought as well! I hope that they put in a bit more effort into duty of care now they have both girls. Yes, I hope that whoever is responsible is caught and dealt with.

[JohnM]

I was originally going to put a sarcastic comment that the Special Investigators could have driven from Paris in the time it took them.... it seems they did come from Paris. I can understand the department may not have it's own Specialist Forensic team, but surely the Rhone Alpes Region would have had people in Lyon?

[idun]

Errrr, Interpol has a base in Lyon and I seem to think that it has it's head office there, so there must be a few experts in the Rhone Alpes! And Lyon is the second biggest city in France, surely it has someone there. The government perhaps prefers to pay the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité to protect the state against it's people, as far as I have seen, that is what THEY are for............ rather than invest in something that could actually help solve crime......... what a novel idea that is!

[JohnM]

It beggers belief. I'm really annoyed, under normal circumstances I'd probably shrug my shoulders in a gallic manner, but every time I think of that poor little girl who must have been beside her self with fear....

[andyh4]

Slight correction Idun - Marseille is the second largest city in France with Lyon third - since the last boundary changes in IIRC 2010.

 

I think we are all in danger of jumping to conclusions from a base of no knowledge of what the Gerdarmerie found when they reached the site.

 

There may be a very good reason why they felt they had to call in an expert from Paris rather than use local resource who may not have had a specialist expertise required - or maybe not.  We should however not be too quick to point to inefficiency - even if our experiences tell us that that is likely.

[woolybanana]

Not the first time this kind of thing has happened though. One is reminded of the Dominici affair when British scientist Jack Drummond, his wife and daughter were shot by the side of the road in 1952. There was much controversy over the man eventually found guilty which still comes up from time to time. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Drummond

[Kitty]

Thank you for the link about the Drummonds, WB. Interesting reading.

[HoneySuckleDreams]

this is another more recent (insolved) shooting of english tourists

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/oct/15/france.alexduvalsmith

 

The shoointgs in the Haute-Savoie are getting stranger. As soon as you mention Iraqi connections, the immediate thought is that it is al-Quaeda or some other type of thing. Very early days yet.

[NormanH]

An update

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9525442/France-shooting-Three-victims-were-shot-in-the-head.html

[Christine Animal]

[quote user="JohnM"]It beggers belief. I'm really annoyed, under normal circumstances I'd probably shrug my shoulders in a gallic manner, but every time I think of that poor little girl who must have been beside her self with fear....[/quote]

When they later found out that the couple had two children, they were searching for her by helicopter, etc.  Didn't they think of looking in the car first ?!

 

[Alex H]

[quote user="Christine Animal"]

When they later found out that the couple had two children, they were searching for her by helicopter, etc.  Didn't they think of looking in the car first ?!

 [/quote]

The BBC says that the local police were told to preserve the crime scene

Thermal imaging cameras on the helicopter did not detect any 'live ones' as unfortunately she was hidden under the deceased.

 

[Théière]

Shocking though it was, preserving the crime scene is logical rather than some flat foot destroying possible evidence. Still not as bad as the MET, 7, 8 or 9 days to find Tia Sharp's body in the house.

[Gardener]

The British media seem sure that the British family was the intended target and the cyclist ( the 'witness' who was shot 5times) was killed because of what he saw. The French police have suggested that it could have been the other way round.

Tragic for all the victims, but at least the police seem to be examining all possibilities.

[Théière]

The French maybe right, You shoot the cyclist 5 times for shagging your missus you only have 3 bullets left, 1 bullet for each adult witness of the shooting of the cyclist so the daughter gets battered with the gun butt?

[KathyF]

Except that the daughter was also shot in the shoulder as well as beaten. Apparently up to 25 shots were fired altogether. I know the police have to consider all possibilities, but the last scenario does seem unlikely to me.

[Théière]

More facts Kathy, then a professional hit by a rotten shot? (25 attempts). Is it just that we were brought up on inspector clouseau so have a poor idea of french policing?

[nomoss]

What a pathetic bunch. It's not a game of Cluedo.

[5-element]

Exactly. Just imagine being a friend or relative of the victim, and reading some of the comments made here. Real people, and however it happened, they met with a very tragic ending. Think of those left behind: two little girls - as well as three children and wife of the murdered French cyclist. Perhaps a little sensitivity would not go amiss.