Gun Attack on UK Family ‘Savagery’

By Press Association

THREE of the four people shot dead when a gunman opened fire on a British family in the French Alps were hit in the middle of the head, it has been revealed.

Public prosecutor Eric Maillaud described the attack, which left the driver, two women and a passing cyclist dead, as an act of “gross savagery”.

A four-year-old girl was found alive underneath the bodies of her family around eight hours after the massacre.

And a seven-year-old girl, thought to be her sister, was found violently beaten and is in a coma, fighting for her life.

The four-year-old lay undiscovered as police waited for forensic experts to arrive at the scene from Paris. She was found “terrorised, motionless, in the midst of the bodies” after fellow campers at a nearby site told officers the family had two children, Mr Maillaud said.

He defended the delay in finding her as he revealed she was receiving psychiatric treatment. A man and two women – believed to be the girls’ mother, father and an older relative – were in the British-registered BMW, which was riddled with bullets.

The man was named by French media as Saad al-Hilli, from Claygate, near Esher in Surrey.

Mr al-Hilli was behind the wheel at the time of the attack.

Mr Maillaud refused to con-firm his name but revealed that he was 50 years-old, was originally from Iraq and held British citizenship.

A British cyclist, a former member of the RAF, who stumbled upon the shocking scene and spotted the seven-year-old lying in the road, placed her in the recovery position.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday he was praised by Mr Maillaud, who said the fouryear-old was in a traumatised condition.

“Can you imagine the state of the young girl, four years-old, has spent eight hours under a body that was not moving…”

Police said the motive for the attack remained a mystery but revealed there were signs of a vehicle braking at the scene.

Mr Maillaud also said that Swedish and Iraqi passports had been recovered along with the driver’s British passport.

Mr Maillaud said the British cyclist was overtaken earlier by the French bicycle-rider found shot at the scene.

He said the British man told them he came across the “powerful” BMW estate with the engine still running.

“He also saw coming towards the car a young girl who collapsed before him,” he said. “He put her in a side position and called the police and ambulance service.”

He said the girl had been repeatedly hit “extremely violently”.

The British cyclist then went to the vehicle and found the French victim by its side. He broke a window and turned the engine off and found the other three bodies in the car.

“We are talking about particularly horrific and alarming deaths,” he added.

The media gathered outside Mr al-Hilli’s home in Claygate, Surrey yesterday afternoon.

Two plain-clothed police officers stood outside the two-storey detached house before three uniformed officers arrived.

Originally published by By Press Association Reporters.

(c) 2012 Evening Mail; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

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Category: International