A SCHOOLGIRL was knifed to death by a video game player who was “frustrated” because he lost a game of Fortnite.
An 11-year-old girl named Louise Lasalle was found dead one day after she was enticed into the woods and fatally stabbed by a 23-year-old gaming enthusiast named Owen L in Épinay-Sur-Orge, Paris, on February 7th.
According to prosecutor Gregoire Dulin, Owen L became enraged following an argument with another gamer and was known to have fits of anger when losing at video games.
On 7 February, Owen L was playing popular battle royale game Fortnite when he lost a game, insulted another player and stormed out of his home.
His girlfriend, Laurianne B, told cops that he often threw fits of rage while playing violent shooter games such as Fortnite.
Prosecutor Dulin said that Owen L “wanted to steal something or blackmail someone in order to calm down”.
The killer then bumped into Louise who had a lanyard with her phone in it around her neck and decided to follow her.
He then persuaded the schoolgirl to follow him into a nearby woodland, claiming that he had lost something there.
The computer science student then threatened Louise with a knife and told her he was going to search her things to steal money.
Terrified Louise screamed before the sick killer pushed her to the ground in a panic
Prosecutor Dulin said: “She started screaming. Panicked, he pushed her to the ground and stabbed her.”
Cowardly Owen L then ran back home, leaving the phone beside her corpse.
There was no evidence of sexual assault, according to the prosecutor.
Owen L, who is unemployed, has admitted to the murder. He resided with an affluent family but had a criminal record for minor offenses and had been reported to the authorities by his sister for allegedly assaulting her.
Described as a video game addict, the computer science student lived with his 49-year-old father who is a senior bank executive and his mother who works as a HR manager.
A police source said that Louise was “hit more than 10 times by an object that could have been a knife”, particularly in the neck and torso.
The murderer insisted he was innocent immediately after he was arrested, but later admitted guilt after his DNA was found on Louise’s body.
CCTV also showed Louise crossing the road near her home at 1:58pm before a man in a black jacket with his hood up, later identified as Owen L, is seen following her.
Louise’s phone was turned off at 2:07pm, which caused her worried mother to check a geolocation app three minutes later.
Her parents alerted police two hours later and her sister Mariane posted an appeal on social media asking for help to find her lost sibling.
She wrote online: “My little sister Louise Lassalle disappeared at 2pm near Andre Maurois college in Epinay. She went through the Bas Follet trail.
“She had a purple backpack with a butterfly on it and a navy blue coat. She [had] a large white bandage on her chin too.”
Louise’s body was found a few hundred metres from her school on Saturday.
Owen L now faces life in prison if convicted of murder, whilst his girlfriend has been charged with failing to report a crime, and faces up to three years in prison and a £37,000 fine.
Investigations showed that Owen L had previously attempted to lure another girl into the woods, but she luckily refused.
A grieving former student of the same school called Camille told French media that “it could have happened to any of us”.
Louise’s death has shocked parents across France and raised concerns about children’s safety in the country, especially after their interior minister pledged to give tougher penalties for violent crime.
