Wanted to attempt to murder on a person depository of the public authority, the suspect, 59, “was not armed” and “did not oppose any resistance” when he arrest on the public highway at 11:30 am in Charantonnay (Isère), 14 km from the scene of the aggression, then was placed in police custody, said in a statement the prosecutor of Grenoble Etienne Manteaux.
Gilles Dussault, mayor since 2014 of Villeneuve-de-Marc, a village of less than 1,200 inhabitants between Lyon and Grenoble, had been hospitalized in absolute emergency in Lyon, his vital prognosis being initially committed.
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Suffering from “three wounds, two of which in the thorax and a defensive wound”, the councilor has since been heard by the investigators and confirmed the course of the facts reported by the first witnesses, the Vienna prosecutor’s office said on Friday.
His injuries earned him a total incapacity for work (ITT) of a fortnight, according to the same source.
“Town planning questions”
According to the first elements of the investigation, the mayor and his attacker were in dispute for “urban planning questions” and “works carried out by” the citizen “without authorization”.
After having presented several shots to the elected official, the attacker first left the scene before returning with his vehicle.
“He then tried to hit the mayor and his son who came to help him, and finished his race against a wall, then fled on foot” after having punched the mayor who tried to intercept him, according to the Vienna prosecutor’s office.
Judicial information was opened by the criminal center of the Grenoble court, now responsible for the case.
An investigation for “aggravated violence” against the mayor’s son, who had been more slightly injured and hospitalized in Vienna, was also opened.
The announcement of the assault had been followed by numerous convictions from elected officials and also Emmanuel Macron.
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“When an elected official is attacked, it is the nation that is by his side. When we attack his representatives, the Republic must be severe and intractable,” reacted on Wednesday on X President.
The aggressions of elected officials increased by 13.5% in 2023 before dropping by 9.3% in 2024 with 2,501 facts identified, or 48 per week, according to the 2023-2025 report published in May by the Center for Analysis and Fight against Elected officials (CALAE).
Out of a total of 520,000 elected officials, mayors represent 64% of the victims, before assistants and advisers (18%) and parliamentarians (13%), while 82% of attacks are committed against a member of a local executive (mayors and assistants).
These “numerous assaults of elected officials on a daily basis” and the “degree of violence of this act” must “lead public authorities and citizens to react immediately”, said the association of mayors of France (AMF) on Thursday.