A firefighter was shot and very seriously wounded on Sunday while responding to a fire in Les Pennes-Mirabeau, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department near Marseille, French authorities said. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the injury on X. The victim and his team had been deployed to fires involving a heavy truck and light vehicles in the Plan de Campagne commercial zone, between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, when an armed assailant attacked them, according to the department's delegated police prefecture.
The attacker then barricaded himself in his caravan, the prefecture said. The suspect is known to police for aggravated violence with weapons and has a "psy profile," according to the same source. Prefect Jacques Witkowski told AFP that the firefighter who commanded the operation was "very seriously injured." Police sources told Le Figaro he was hit in the thorax. The prefect added that another firefighter and a vehicle were also hit, without giving further details.
The shooter was arrested and handed over to judicial police authorities, Witkowski said. According to the prefect, the man had "probably" set the vehicles on fire himself. The prefect was at the scene alongside the delegated police prefect, and a security perimeter was established.
Nuñez expressed indignation at what he called a gratuitous and violent attack on firefighters working to protect the public. He said the wounded firefighter had been taken care of and that thoughts were with him for his recovery. Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for the firefighters of France, offered total support to the injured firefighter, his loved ones and the teams mobilized, writing on X that when rescuers become targets, the republican pact is affected.
The Direction générale de la Sécurité civile also voiced strong emotion on X, saying nothing could ever justify attacking a firefighter carrying out his mission. It stressed that firefighters commit every day to protecting the population, rescuing victims and saving lives, and must be able to do so without violence. Marine Le Pen, the National Rally candidate for the presidential election, sent wishes for the firefighter's prompt recovery and wrote on X that attacking those who risk their lives to protect others is an act of absolute gravity, adding that justice must be uncompromising.
Sources: Le Figaro.