Guy Martel

Guy Martel
Born Guy Martel
ca. 1944
Paris, France
Occupation Teacher
Parent(s) Victor Martel
Killings
Date June 19, 1985
11:00 – 14:00 CEST
Location(s) Ille-et-Vilaine & Cotes-du-Nord, France
Killed 7
Injured 5
Weapons .22-caliber rifle

Guy Martel is a French spree killer who killed seven people and wounded at least five others in several towns and villages in the departments Ille-et-Vilaine and Cotes-du-Nord on June 19, 1985, before he was arrested.

Life

Martel was born in Paris in 1944 during the Nazi occupation of France. His father Victor was a member of the garde mobile, and he had three sisters. Martel earned a degree in mathematics and chemistry, joined the military and was sent to Costa Rica, where he taught in San José. He rarely spoke about his time there, but he related that he had seen horrible things and had to perform the duties of someone of higher rank, who had been killed. In 1969 he had been taken hostage by guerrilleros, or bandits for three weeks and upon his release he was flown back to France. From then on he complained about being ill, saying he had caught a virus and suffered from intestinal pain and pain in the spine.

Martel accepted a position as a natural sciences teacher at Henri Matisse college in Issy-les-Moulineaux, but in 1972, after less than two years, he had to quit due to a nervous disorder and was put on a long term disability leave. Afterwards he had briefly been in mental institutions three times – once in Paris, and twice in Brittany – and was accorded a degree of disability of 80%. In 1975 he was granted a disability pension and moved in with his parents in Baguer-Morvan. When his mother died from a heart attack in 1976 his condition began to deteriorate and he saw hostility everywhere. Due to a growing discord between him and his father he decided to live alone and bought a house in Dol-de-Bretagne in 1979.[1]

Once there Martel rarely left his home except to lie in his garden, or to play tennis at a local sports hall. He also ate lunch every day at a home for elderly people. Besides his father and an uncle, who occasionally came over to mow his lawn, as well as his doctor, Mr. Launay, he had no visitors and consequently was known as "monsieur tout seul" (Mr. all alone) throughout the village.

Martel generally was quickly fatigued and he complained a lot about noise, especially those made by children, whom he called loud and annoying. When one day a child pressed his doorbell and ran away he came out angrily, shouting: "If you do that again, I will kill you!"[2]

It was also reported that Martel had been under treatment for mental problems in a hospital near Rennes since 1984.[3][4][5]

Shooting

On June 19, at about 10 a.m. Martel's father came to visit him and apparently they had some sort of argument. After his father had left, Martel took his .22-caliber rifle with scope, which he had purchased about ten years prior from Manufrance, as well as a box of cartridges, put them in the trunk of his car and drove to the house of his father in Baguer-Morvan.

Since his father was not yet home Martel drove back to Dol-de-Bretagne, where he arrived at approximately 11 a.m. at the home of his uncle, 64-year-old Charles Martel, who was picking cherries. Martel first had a normal conversation with him, but eventually returned to his car, retrieved his rifle and shot Charles Martel three times, wounding him, and also shot at, but missed one of his cousins.

Martel then drove to the retirement home where he entered the kitchen. When the cook, Mrs. Lozac'h, who was standing at the stove, explained that it was not yet time to eat, he replied that he would come back later (Je reviendrai tout à l'heure.) and shot at her, grazing her head. Martel left again and proceeded to doctor Launay's office. There he entered the room of Launay's colleague, Michel Lhommelet, who was examining a child, and killed him with four shots to the back. He next stopped at the gymnasium, where he used to play tennis, entered the office of Mrs. Le Maréchal, who was managing the facility, and shot her dead.

Thereupon Martel returned to Baguer-Morvan, finding his father just arriving at his home. Martel killed him outside his house by shooting him several times. By that time reports of the loose gunman had spread in Dol-de-Bretagne, and shops were closed and children kept at school, while police began their search operation.

Meanwhile the 41-year-old made his way to Rocher-Aoustin near Combourg, where he killed Joseph Weber, also an uncle of his, with a shot from his rifle. In La Chapelle-aux-Filtzméens Martel shot at the brothers Jean and Eugène Chaussonnière, killing the former and seriously wounding the latter, while in Saint-Domineuc Pierre Bourtourault was shot dead when gathering hay at the roadside. In Quebriac he killed 33-year-old Danièle Pomard, whose body was found at 13:35 by garbage collectors.

Near Trévérien Martel shot and wounded 29-year-old André Rehault on his tractor. At that time he was eventually spotted by a police helicopter and he left Ille-et-Vilaine and drove into Cotes-du-Nord, wounding on his way 34-year-old Daniel Lebreton, who was eating lunch in his truck near Saint-Judoce, and 40-year-old Raymond Prechoux in Saint-Juvat. Martel afterwards fired at three other persons before finally being stopped by police in Saint-André-des-Eaux at around 14:00. He stepped out of his car, hands raised and yelling: "Don't shoot! I am sick!" (Ne tirez pas! Je suis malade!) and was arrested.[1][6][7]

Being asked about the reason for him shooting people at random he explained that at first he had business with his family and a few others, but upon realizing that it was easy to shoot people, he simply continued. (Au début, je n'avais affaire qu'à ma famille et a quelques autres personnes... Après, j'ai réalise que c'était facile de tirer. Alors, j'ai continue.)[2]

Victims

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Le tragique itinéraire du tueur dément, Le Monde (June 21, 1985)
  2. 1 2 Sept meurtres pour briser sa solitude, Paris Match (July 5, 1985)
  3. ↑ Frenchman Kills 7 With Hunting Rifle, Los Angeles Times (June 20, 1985)
  4. ↑ Mental patient kills 7 in France, Lakeland Ledger (June 20, 1985)
  5. ↑ 7 killed, 5 wounded by gunman in France, Toledo Blade (June 20, 1985)
  6. ↑ Francia: un perturbado mata a 7 personas, entre ellas su padre, La Vanguardia (June 20, 1985)
  7. ↑ Franzose tötete sieben Menschen, Hamburger Abendblatt (June 20, 1985)
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