Racist attack in Yvelines: Kévin Tessier refuses to regret his actions
Kévin Tessier, perpetrator of the attack that killed one person and wounded seven on 23 October in Trappes and La Verrière, expressed his racist and anti-immigration motivations without remorse during his police custody.
Racist attack in Yvelines: Kévin Tessier refuses to regret his actions
According to TF1 Info, Kévin Tessier made unequivocal statements during his police custody at the Counter-Terrorism Sub-Directorate (SDAT) following the racist attack on 23 October in Trappes and La Verrière (Yvelines). The 39-year-old man, perpetrator of the shootings that killed one person and wounded seven, told investigators that he only regrets not having killed more. "If there are survivors, it is because I was lenient," he declared in the report consulted by the police-justice department of TF1-LCI.
When asked about his choice of victims, aged from 11 to 58, Tessier explained that he had selected them "based on ethnicity or religion". He justified targeting Trappes by claiming that "it is a haunt of Islamists". His statements regularly denounced an alleged "colonisation of France by Islamists and Africans of all kinds". The other people affected, according to him, were merely "collateral damage".
Regarding the 11-year-old girl who was seriously wounded, Tessier initially acknowledged that children should not be targeted, but did not regret his actions. He claimed that "such regrets would serve no purpose" and arbitrarily established 16 years as "the age at which a person becomes eligible for death". During fingerprinting carried out by police, he taunted and made light of the situation, telling investigators: "Do this properly and according to the rules or else I might get out."
On the way to his home for the search, Tessier launched into an anti-immigration monologue. He expressed the hope that his action would "inspire other French people" and wondered that his deed be remembered. At his home, he expressed surprise that the explosive device had not "blown up" his apartment when the incidents occurred.
When questioned again about his motivations, Tessier explicitly rejected the designation "terrorist". He claimed to have "acted for France" and maintained that his act "was not intended to provoke terror but to liberate the country". Confronted with questions about his urges, he declared: "Since I was five years old, I have wanted people to die. Everyone." He added that he wondered about whether such thoughts were normal, before concluding: "But there it is, that is my life."
Investigators discovered at his home a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and stickers of the National Rally that he had himself designed and had manufactured. Tessier claimed to have "always been right-wing", but claimed to have "infiltrated the left-wingers at a certain time" by stating: "They really made me laugh."
Pengo Bossio Wangi, a promising young French mixed martial arts talent, was killed in these shootings. Tessier also attempted to take his own life in custody following his arrest.
Source: TF1 Info