Man in his twenties shot dead by municipal officer near Avignon after chase
A 29-year-old man was killed during the night of 14 to 15 July near Avignon, struck by gunfire from a municipal official during an attempted escape following a traffic stop.
Man in his twenties shot dead by municipal officer near Avignon after chase
During the night of Tuesday 14 to Wednesday 15 July, a 29-year-old man was killed near Avignon, in Vaucluse. The death occurred following an intervention by municipal law enforcement from Le Pontet, around 2:30 in the morning.
The incident began when officers attempted to stop a driver. The driver chose to flee rather than submit to the inspection. A pursuit then ensued, which ended at the Avignon North interchange, in the municipality of Vedène.
There, a second municipal police unit had been dispatched as reinforcement to block the road against the fleeing driver. The driver then made several abrupt manoeuvres with his vehicle. During these manoeuvres, a police car was struck. One of the officers, who had exited his vehicle, was run over at the foot by the fleeing driver's car. It was in this context that one of the municipal agents used his firearm, fatally shooting the driver.
The victim, originally from the Aix-en-Provence region, was already known to judicial authorities, notably for several previous instances of failing to comply with orders from law enforcement during inspections.
The Avignon public prosecutor immediately opened two parallel procedures. The first targets offences of fleeing and assault with a weapon (the vehicle) against representatives of public authority. The second concerns homicide committed by an officer entrusted with public authority.
This incident occurs in a context of increased instances of failure to comply. According to figures from the Interior Ministry's statistical service published in June, these incidents increased by 9% in 2025 compared with the previous year.
Source: Le Figaro
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)