False hostage situation in Agde: empty apartment after lengthy police mobilisation
An armed man appeared to be holed up on Rue Louis-Bages in Agde on Saturday, threatening to kill his family. The apartment turned out to be empty: it was a hoax.
Armed suspect alert in Agde: several hours of mobilisation for a prank
An empty apartment on the 3rd floor of 12, Rue Louis-Bages, in Agde — this is what police officers discovered around 20:30 on Saturday 6 June, after an entire afternoon of tense negotiations with an alleged armed gunman. According to information gathered by Midi Libre, the entire operation deployed in the town centre proved fruitless: the alert was a hoax.
A very credible call, explicit threats
It had all begun early in the afternoon. A man had entered his home, not far from Agde's promenade, and neighbours had reported a violent dispute, followed by gunshots fired in the air and screaming. The police forces, called in as reinforcements, had quickly established telephone contact with the individual. He had issued an unequivocal warning: "If you try anything, I will kill them all."
The investigators then deployed an observation drone and mobilised teams from the Anti-Crime Brigade (Bac), riot police and other Agde officers. The Raid was not requested. Contact with the gunman was then lost, without explanation, leaving the police forces in uncertainty.
The mayor on scene, doubts grow
Aurélien Lopez-Liguori, mayor of Agde, had spent much of the afternoon at the scene. By late afternoon, he was expressing his concerns: "Frankly, I have a lot of questions. Nothing has changed all afternoon. I hope this isn't a prank." His doubts proved to be justified.
Around 20:30, police officers took action and forced open the apartment door. It was empty. By 21:00, the operation had been completely stood down.
"It was very credible": a hoax difficult to detect
A source who followed the intervention confirmed to Midi Libre the nature of the operation. "It was a hoax. There are more and more of them and unfortunately they are becoming increasingly difficult to spot because they are very realistic," they stated.
This witness detailed how the initial alert unfolded: "A first call tells us that a man has just hit his mother. On the telephone, we could hear screaming. Then gunshots. The tone was escalating. We had made contact with the gunman, he seemed very tense. It was very credible."
Faced with such a situation, caution is essential. "We maintained contact for a time, then lost it. We put in place a large operation whilst we were beginning to have doubts. But in such cases, we cannot afford to be wrong. We have to go ahead and it can be very dangerous," the same source continued.
Unknown perpetrator, real consequences
Police officers had at one point traced the locations of the telephones used during the calls, before losing their trail. When the operation was stood down, no one knew for certain who had made these calls.
The practical consequence remains concerning, however: for several hours, a very large number of officers were mobilised on a fictional incident, unavailable to respond to any genuine emergencies.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)