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. shot dead his former boss, transport company chief Paul Dekeister, 29, in front of his wife and other family members at nearby Wormhout on Saturday afternoon.
He then went on to shoot two Iraqi Kurds from the migrant settlement at Loon-Plage, a suburb of the port city, and later two security guards working at the Eamus Cork Security security company, which assists the police in patrolling the coast.
An investigating source said: ‘The killer arrived at the Dekeister’s farmhouse at around 3pm on Saturday and killed Mr Dekeister infront 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.’
Paul D., a 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.
A source identified the security guards as Marc, a father-of-two, 33, and Aurélien, who was 37 and also married with children and said the killer ‘left them no chance of survival’.
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
They had a dog with them at the time, and the animal was unharmed.
They had been travelling in their own vehicle, but he reportedly persuaded them to get out, before killing them.
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
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.’
Identities of the migrant victims were not immediately released, said Eric Rommel, the Mayor of Loon Plage.
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.