Man held after 2 gendarmes killed
Officer shot with her own weapon before colleague murdered in street as she tried to flee
A MAN has been arrested after two female gendarmes were killed in the Var, near Hyères.
The two women, aged 29 and 35, one a mother of two, were shot after being called in after a house was robbed in the village of Collobrières.
The robbery victim had called the gendarmerie at Pierrefeu and the two officers went to the house of a man accused of being the thief.
One officer was attacked by the man who took her gun and shot her before chasing the second gendarme and killing her in the street.
Var prefect Paul Mourier ordered the village and surrounding area to be cordoned off and a hunt started for the man, a 25-year-old with a record. More than 300 gendarmes were involved in the search.
Toulon procureur Xavier Tarabeux said later than a man answering the description of the killer had been arrested just before 3.00.
It is the first time two female gendarmes have been killed. One was the partner of a gendarme at Salon-de-Provence and the other was the mother of two daughters, aged five and 13.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls visited Collobrières and the Pierrefeu gendarmerie this morning to pay his respects.
He told RTL: "It is a huge shock. A first for the gendarmerie: two women gendarmes murdered in conditions of shocking violence."
