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A gunman was in custody in northern France on Saturday night after admitting the murder of five men, including UK-bound migrants and port security guards with whom he previously worked.
The 22-year-old French national, identified only as Paul D, went on a killing spree late on Saturday afternoon in an area full of asylum seekers sleeping rough amid attempts to reach Britain on small boats.
All those killed received “precise shots to the head, suggesting the killer had a lot of experience with firearms”, said an investigating source.
The self-confessed killer claimed to be a “former colleague” of the dead security guards.
Four of his victims died around a makeshift camp at Loon-Plage, a town close to Dunkirk from where small boats packed with migrants set off across the Channel to the UK.
The first four victims killed near Dunkirk were two security agents and two migrants, according to the first elements reported by this source. The fifth person killed was in the commune of Wormhout. Photo / AFP
Special forces police were called to a camp on the Mardyck Rd soon after 4pm on Saturday afternoon after reports of “a lone gunman killing people”, said an investigating source.
He added: “Four people were shot dead around the camp at Mardyck – two security guards and two migrants.”
“When the suspect turned himself in to gendarmes, he said he had killed five men, including two former colleagues.
“It appears that he was involved in a long-running dispute with the security company.”
The killer is first thought to have struck at about 4pm at Wormhout, some 15 miles inland from Dunkirk.
His car pulled up outside a farmhouse, where he went inside and shot dead a 29-year-old public transport manager in front of his family, according to the source.
“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,” said the source.
“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 killed by shot to the head
Two security guards working for Eamus Cork Security, a company that helps safeguard Dunkirk port, were then shot dead in the same way.
They had been travelling in their own vehicle, but the gunman persuaded them to get out before killing them.
The man, from Dunkirk, then drove some eight miles to the coastal town of Ghyvelde and turned himself into gendarmes around 5pm, before confessing to all five murders.
When officers searched the boot of his car, they found it was filled with firearms.
Confirming the arrest, a spokesman for Ghyvelde gendarmes said the man “was not known to police”, suggesting he had no previous criminal record.
He was expected to be questioned at length, before being remanded in custody. He will appear before an examining magistrate on Sunday.
Wormhout Mayor David Calcoen said: “I am stunned by what has happened. I cannot understand how this could have happened.”
Loon-Plage Mayor Eric Rommel said the two security guards were on duty and patrolling the port area when they were attacked after getting out of their car.
There was no immediate link established between the security guards and the dead transport manager or the migrants, he said.
Four weapons were found in Paul D’s car, and he was the legal owner of a Smith & Wesson .44-calibre Remington rifle, said a gendarmerie spokesman.
A judicial inquiry into the murders has been opened by local prosecutors.
There are frequent reports of gun and knife violence around the migrant camps in northern France, which often involve people-smugglers who control the illegal trade.
