OAN’s Brooke Mallory
11:00 AM – Tuesday, December 26, 2023
A local French prosecutor described the killings of four children, ages nine months to 10-years-old, and their mother, who were all found dead at their eastern Paris apartment.
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According to the authorities, the father of the children was detained on Tuesday, and he is currently the main suspect.
Prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier told reporters in the city of Meaux that on Christmas Day, neighbors saw a pool of blood outside the family’s door and reported it to the police, who then found the five victims.
He said that throughout the course of Sunday and Monday night, the mother and her two girls, aged seven and ten, were repeatedly stabbed. The two boys, who were 4 and 9 months old, were either drowned or suffocated, according to police.
The prosecutor described a tiny, incredibly messy flat that was covered in blood.
It is still unknown why the five were killed.
The suspect is a 33-year-old man who was born in the Paris district of Colombes. He was apprehended on Tuesday outside his father’s residence, which is located northeast of the French capital, according to the prosecutor.
The prosecutor stated that while the defendant had previously attacked his spouse in 2019 while she was pregnant and expecting, the case was closed since he had been deemed mentally unstable at the time of the incident.
According to the prosecution, the suspect attempted suicide and was admitted to a mental health facility in 2017.
Bladier also mentioned that the pair had known one another since high school and had been together for 14 years.
In accordance with French legislation safeguarding children who are victims of crimes, none of the family members’ identities were disclosed.
The prosecutor went on to say that the suspect will go through a mental assessment in order to decide the next course of action in the five killings that authorities are investigating.
“I recognise the feeling of helplessness in such an event, but on a national level we need to have a deep assessment and rethinking of the consequences of psychiatric troubles on the families of these individuals,” said Meaux’s mayor, Jean-Francois Cope .
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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