Guadeloupe: two shootings at law enforcement, five put under investigation
Two groups of armed robbers opened fire on police and gendarmes in Guadeloupe last weekend. Five suspects are under investigation, including two gendarmes wounded by bullets.
Gunfire at law enforcement in Guadeloupe: update on two cases of exceptional severity
The prosecutor of the republic for Pointe-à-Pitre, Caroline Calbo, held a press conference on Wednesday 14 October 2026, accompanied by the territorial director of the national police and the commander of the gendarmerie in Guadeloupe, to provide an update on two shootings that occurred last weekend. According to la1ere.franceinfo.fr, the two cases are described as "almost unprecedented" by the authorities.
"These two cases certainly show a rather characteristic evolution that concerns us—the intensity of violence," said the magistrate.
First shooting: an ambush against police in Pointe-à-Pitre
In the night of Thursday 8 to Friday 9 October, around 00:45, two teams from the Ground Surveillance Brigade (BST) spotted a suspicious vehicle in the town centre of Pointe-à-Pitre. The four men on board were suspected of being involved in several thefts committed in Sainte-Anne, Trois-Rivières and Le Gosier between 24 September and 9 October.
Aware they were being followed, two members of the group got out of the vehicle at a street corner and set up an ambush for the police. They opened fire with an AR15-type assault rifle. Fourteen bullet impacts were found on the police car's windscreen. No officers were wounded.
"We are dealing with ultra-violent delinquents who decide to open fire, with weapons of war, on police officers who are, certainly, protected. But this exchange of gunfire is not happening furtively, by chance. It is because there is a deliberate intention to open fire on internal security forces," emphasised the prosecutor.
A man was arrested on the spot: a 44-year-old Dominican national, previously convicted of other offences. He was put under investigation for armed robbery, attempted murder of a person invested with public authority and possession of category A and B weapons, then remanded in custody. His three accomplices are actively being sought.
Second shooting: two GIGN gendarmes wounded in Abymes
On Saturday 10 October, around 19:40, in the Belle Plaine sector in Abymes, a second group of four individuals—a 16-year-old minor and three young adults in their twenties, of Dominican, Haitian and French nationality, two of whom already convicted of aggravated theft—were pursued by military personnel from the Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN). The group had just carried out an armed robbery of gold jewellery.
When the vehicles stopped, the offenders opened fire from inside their car, on sixteen occasions. Two gendarmes, the first to exit their official vehicle, were struck by bullets: one in the leg, the other in the arm. Their prognosis is not life-threatening.
"The offenders, seeing the GIGN's weapons, surrender. The military personnel showed the composure not to return fire from this intense opening of fire that lasted a few seconds. As soon as they see the hands raised by the offenders, they extract them one by one from the vehicle," the prosecutor reported.
The four suspects were placed in police custody and then put under investigation on Wednesday for armed robbery, attempted murder of persons invested with public authority and possession of category A weapons. The prosecution requested their remand in custody; investigation is ongoing.
A context of escalating violence against law enforcement
These two cases are part of a series of concerning incidents. In March, a soldier from the Gendarmerie Surveillance and Intervention Platoon (PSIG) in Saint-Claude was wounded in the arm during a shooting. Last week, gunfire was also directed at gendarmes in Sainte-Anne, without injuring anyone—acts attributed to the first group presented in this article.
To deal with mobile offenders operating across several municipalities, police, gendarmerie and customs have strengthened their coordination.
"We communicate directly on investigations between criminal police and the investigation section, we exchange information on events throughout the night as soon as we have a vehicle that is reported," clarified a law enforcement official present at the press conference.
The zero-tolerance stance displayed by the judicial and security authorities in response to these acts marks a firm response to what prosecutor Calbo describes as an unprecedented escalation in the intensity of violence in Guadeloupe.
Source: Google News GP — Crime