French police detained a former soldier on Monday who fled into a forest after shooting at security forces, an incident that sparked a major search and capture operation, authorities said.. The head of the government in the Dordogne region, Frederic Perissat, said at a press conference in the town of Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare (southwest) that the suspect was injured after an exchange of fire with the police, and that he had been arrested. Their injuries are “serious,” said Andre Petillot, head of the gendarmerie for the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, adding that no officers had been injured.
Authorities had released a photo of the suspect, Terry Dupin, a bearded 29-year-old man considered a “dangerous individual” early Monday morning.. He was hiding in a forest outside the town of Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare, whose 1,800 residents had been ordered to stay indoors during the search.. Elite units and some 300 gendarmes, supported by armored vehicles, helicopters and sniffer dogs, had surrounded an area of four square kilometers of dense forests..
The search began after Dupin showed up at his ex-partner's home around midnight Saturday, according to police sources, despite having a restraining order after four previous convictions for domestic violence, the latest in February.. Apparently, he hit the woman and then fired a 30-30 Winchester hunting rifle at his new partner, without hitting him.. Dupin wore an ankle bracelet that notifies police if he approaches his ex-partner, with whom he had three children, but does not serve as a tracking device.. The man had indicated that he intended to be shot to death, and Petillot said Monday that he was “still in a suicidal frame of mind.”
Dupin was no longer authorized to possess weapons and likely obtained the rifle illegally, a police source said.. He served in the military from 2011 to 2016, and was currently working as a truck driver for a public works company. “He was a model employee, we could not reproach him for anything,” the company owner, who requested anonymity, told AFP. “We knew he had been in the army (…) but nothing else,” he added.”
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