I remember this one happening and have always found it intriguing.
en.wikipedia.org
The
Annecy shootings, also the
French Alps shootings or the
Chevaline killings, were the deaths on 5 September 2012 of three members of a
British family and a French citizen on the
Route Forestière Domaniale de la Combe d'Ire near
Chevaline, Haute-Savoie, near the southern end of
Lake Annecy.
Four people were killed: an
Iraqi-born British tourist named Saad al-Hilli, 50; his wife Iqbal, 47; her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, who held a Swedish passport; and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45. The al-Hillis' two daughters both survived the attack. One, aged four, was hidden under the legs of her dead mother in the rear footwell for eight hours even while the
gendarmerie were on the scene; she was only discovered by specialist forensic investigators. The elder daughter, aged seven, was shot in the shoulder and also suffered a head wound; she returned to the
United Kingdom on 14 September 2012.
Police investigated al-Hilli's past in Iraq as an engineer on sensitive topics, as well as his work at the time of his death, as a potential motive for the attack.
[1] Al-Hilli's work in the UK involved nuclear and satellite technology, whilst Mollier was also probed to determine if he was the primary target of the attack.
[2]
The attack has been compared to the 1952 killing of biochemist
Jack Drummond in the
Dominici Affair.
[1][3][4]
In September 2017, after 5 years of investigation, French police said they had "no working theory" to explain the murders and no suspects. Veronique Dizot, the lead prosecutor, suggested that the family "may have been targeted randomly."
[5]
The attack took place in a
lay-by on the mountain-side road at about 15:45 CEST on 5 September 2012. 25 shots were fired in total.
[6] Initial reports stated only one
semi-automatic pistol was fired, though it was later reported that full ballistics analysis is likely to disprove this.
[7]
The bodies were discovered by Brett Martin, a
British ex-
RAF pilot, who is a resident in France, while he was out riding his bicycle. He heard nothing of the shots.
[6] This might be because he was crossing the last river bridge just a few hundred metres from the murder location; the noise of the water easily masking the sound of gunfire. Al-Hilli's eldest daughter, seven-year-old Zainab, was the first victim he saw when he arrived on the scene. She was stumbling into the road and collapsed in front of the British family's BMW car.
Prior to the incident, the BMW was reversed sharply into the side of the lay-by, leaving marks which were still visible when the site was reopened to the public.
[1] When the car was found by Martin, the engine was still running and the car was in reverse gear, the rear wheels spinning in the loose sand. The doors were locked. The deceased in the car were each shot twice in the head.
[6]
The French cyclist killed near the car was Sylvain Mollier. It has been reported that he was shot seven times.
[6]
www.rbth.com
www.therendleshamforestincident.com
twwoz.blogspot.com
www.scotsman.com
