A French security guard who killed five people during a rampage in Dunkirk had a ‘grudge against migrants’, an investigating source has claimed.
Dunkirk-native Paul D. was linked to a shooting incident near a temporary camp where men, women, and children were staying in hopes of crossing over to Britain on small boats.
Two Iraqi Kurds from Loon-Plage, a neighborhood near the port city, were fatally shot on Saturday night, shortly after Paul D. murdered his ex-employer.
Transport company chief Paul Dekeister, 29, was gunned down in front of his wife and other family members at nearby Wormhout.
According to an official involved in the investigation, ‘The perpetrator went to Dekeister’s farmhouse at approximately 3 pm on Saturday and fatally shot Mr. Dekeister in front of his family.
‘Mr Dekeister had employed the suspect in a security capacity, and was involved in a dispute.
‘After the killing, the suspect got into his car and made his way to the area around the migrant camp at Loon-Plage.
‘It is thought that he had a grudge against the migrants living along the coast, and wanted to settle some scores.’
The first victim of the gun rampage migrant killer in France has been pictured. Paul Dekeister, 29, was gunned down in front of his wife and other family members
Bodies were left strewn in the streets of Loon-Plage, close to Dunkirk, after the 22-year-old French gunman went on a horrific shooting rampage on Saturday afternoon
Paul D., a Dunkirk born French national, saw the two Kurds standing by the side of a road, close to the camp, and shot them both at point-blank-range.
‘He left them no chance of survival,’ said the source, who identified the men by their first names as Marc, a father-of-two, 33, and Aurélien, who was 37 and also married with children.
Both were in a service vehicle belonging to the Eamus Cork Security security company, which assists the police in patrolling the coast.
They had a dog with them at the time, and the animal was unharmed.
All those killed received ‘precise shots to the head, suggesting the killer had a lot of experience with firearms,’ the investigating source said.
Special forces police were called to a camp on the Mardyck Road soon after 4pm on Saturday afternoon, following early reports of ‘a lone gunman killing people,’ said the source.
All the shootings took place within less than an hour of each other, he added.
The man then drove some eight miles to the coastal town Ghyvelde, and turned himself in to gendarmes at around 5pm, before confessing to all five murders.
Four weapons were found in Paul D.’s car, and he was the legal owner of a Smith and Wesson 44 Remington rifle because he was registered as a hunter, a gendarmerie spokesman said.
Confirming the arrest, a spokesman for Ghyvelde gendarmes said the man ‘was not known to police,’ suggesting he had no previous criminal record.
On Sunday, the Dunkirk prosecutor opened an investigation into a quintuple murder, saying Paul D. faced life in prison.
The area is popular with migrants due to being close to Dunkirk (file image of migrants in the Loon-Plage area)
Police and the local ambulance service rushed to the scene near Dunkirk
David Calcoen, the Mayor of Wormhout, said: ‘I am stunned by what has happened. ‘I cannot understand how this could have happened.’
Identities of migrant victims were not immediately released, said Eric Rommel, the Mayor of Loon Plage.
Bodies were left lying in the streets of Loon-Plage after the 22-year-old gunman went on a horrific shooting rampage on Saturday afternoon.
The gunman claimed to be a ‘former colleague’ of the dead security guards, who he killed following a ‘long-running dispute with the security company’, according to local media.
Officials have been left ‘stunned’ by the events with a local mayor saying he ‘cannot understand how this could have happened’.
The local prefecture said an investigation had been opened into the deaths.
It comes after special forces police were first called to the camp on the Mardyck Road soon after 4pm following reports of ‘a lone gunman killing people’.
The investigating source added that the gunman is first thought to have struck at around 4pm at Wormhout, some 15 miles inland from Dunkirk.
They continued: ‘His car pulled up outside a farmhouse, and then he went inside and shot a 29-year-old public transport manager dead in front of his family.
‘The suspect then made his way to Loon-Plage in his car, where he targeted two Iraqi Kurd migrants he saw by the side of the road.
‘He is thought to have got out of his car, to shoot them both in their heads, leaving them no chance of survival.’
Two security guards working for ECS, which helps safeguard Dunkirk port, were then reportedly shot dead in the same way.
They had been travelling in their own vehicle, but he reportedly persuaded them to get out, before killing them.
There are frequent reports of gun and knife violence around the migrant camps in northern France. They often involve people smugglers who control the illegal trade in people travelling to Britain to claim asylum (file image of migrants in the Loon-Plage area)
The man then drove some eight miles to the coastal town Ghyvelde, and turned himself into gendarmes at around 5pm, before confessing to all five murders.
The migrants are said to be of Kurdish origin and to have died of gunshot wounds near an oil refinery.
The first victim was ‘killed in front of his relatives in what looked like a targeted assassination’.
The gunman was described as being aged 22, and ‘unknown to the authorities before today’.
When his car was searched, four weapons were found in Paul D.’s car, and he was the legal owner of a Smith and Wesson 44 Remington rifle, said a gendarmerie spokesman.
By 7pm, the area was flooded with police and emergency services vehicles, as roadblocks were set up.
Soldiers also arrived due to fears that the killer might be working with accomplices.
Identities of the victims were not immediately released, said Eric Rommel, the Mayor of Loon-Plage.
A blood bath unfolded near the beach at Loon Plage, close to Dunkirk, where small boats regularly set off to Britain (file image of migrants in the Loon-Plage area)
David Calcoen, the Mayor of Wormhout, said: ‘I am stunned by what has happened. ‘I cannot understand how this could have happened.’
There are frequent reports of gun and knife violence around the migrant camps in northern France.
They often involve people smugglers who control the illegal trade in people travelling to Britain to claim asylum.
The Loon-Plage commune has a population of around 6300 while its refugee camp houses hundreds of migrants living in tents scattered among the groves.
