Three police officers shot dead in central France

Three French police officers were shot dead and a fourth wounded by a gunman who opened fire in a remote village today before apparently killing himself. 

Brigadier Arno Mavel, 21, Lieutenant Cyrille Morel, 45, and Adjutant Rémi Dupuis, 37, were killed overnight in a shootout in Puy-de-Dome, 90 miles west of Lyon. 

A fourth officer was seriously injured in the thigh, although he is expected to survive, while the 48-year-old gunman – described by local media as a former soldier – was found dead in his car hours later after a suspected suicide. 

The gendarmes had been called to reports of domestic violence early this morning and found the alleged victim, a woman, taking refuge on the roof of the house. 

She was eventually rescued, but the gunman set fire to the house after shooting at the gendarmes and the building was left a smoking wreckage.  

Arno Mavel (left), Remi Dupuis (centre) and Cyrille Morel (right) were the three gendarmes killed in an early-morning shooting in France today 

French television showed footage of the burned house where the gunman started a fire after shooting at police officers who came to the village in the early hours of this morning 

Three French police officers were shot dead overnight in Puy-de-Dome while responding to a domestic violence incident (pictured, police in the town today)

Officers had been trying to rescue a woman from the roof of a burning building in Puy-de-Dome when they came under fire, with a fourth wounded 

President Emmanuel Macron led tributes to the officers, saying ‘the nation joins the grief of the families’ and adding that ‘our security forces risk their lives to protect us… they are our heroes’. 

It later emerged that the man had been in a battle over custody of a child with his wife, and that friends and neighbours had complained about constant violent rows. 

A source said two officers had initially approached the house just after midnight, with the woman ‘screaming for help’ on the roof as they arrived. 

As they neared the house, gunfire broke out in ‘circumstances which are yet to be clarified,’ a statement from the interior ministry said. 

Mavel was killed in an initial shootout with the gunman before Morel and Dupuis were also shot dead as they approached the house in response.    

According to Europe 1, the man was armed with a military-style Famas assault rifle along with at least two pistols and a pair of night-vision goggles. 

The man was said to practise shooting as a sport but had also served in the military, local paper La Montagne said.  

The gendarmerie’s elite tactical unit arrived at around 2.30am to investigate the shooting and bring the gunman under control, officials said. 

Several hours later the man was found dead in his car, according to BFMTV. 

Firefighters were also on site attempting to control the blaze, while all roads leading to the house were blocked off.  

French Gendarmes direct traffic in the French town in the wake of the shooting

A French police helicopter hovers in the sky above the village following the shooting

Two of the three officers killed were said to have children.  

Interior minister Darmanin said the gendarmerie had ‘lost three of its family members, who were moved by service to France’. 

‘The nation bows before their courage and commitment. I offer my condolences to their families and their friends,’ he said. 

Technically a branch of the military, the gendarmerie is mainly responsible for policing smaller towns and villages in France. 

Their colleagues in the National Police, which mainly patrols cities and large towns, said that ‘all our thoughts are with the relatives and friends of the victims’.  

Aside from terror attacks, shootings of police officers in France are relatively rare.

Last May, a man fired at police from his house in the Gironde region of southwest France, wounding one officer. As he was about to fire again, he was shot dead by police.