La Chapelle-sur-Erdre (France) – “Respect and support”, “I hope the policewoman is doing better”: in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, the inhabitants deposited cards and flowers on Saturday in front of the premises where a a municipal policewoman was assaulted the day before, many of whom praised the gentleness, commitment and professionalism.
Investigations continued on Saturday, especially at the scene of the shooting where the attacker was neutralized, AFP noted. The day before, Nantes prosecutor Pierre Sennès indicated that the investigation was likely to be entrusted to the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office depending on the result of the ongoing investigations.
“I am still very upset,” said Inès, 77, used to meeting the policewoman, attacked with a knife by a schizophrenic on file for radicalization who died on Friday during her arrest.
“I am very saddened for her, because she did not deserve this. She is very, very kind, she is gentle, (…) even when she speaks, she speaks softly”, continues Inès, pulling her shopping bag out. races.
“We attack people like that who protect us. By whom are we going to be protected if we harm these people?”, She worries.
“She has been a municipal police officer for 20 years (…) with inevitably a strong commitment, a great professionalism, an ability to act firmly, an ability to listen and important dialogue”, adds Fabrice Roussel, the socialist mayor of this city north of Nantes.
The victim, Katell Lereec, born in 1974, is the mother of an adult boy and lives as a couple in a neighboring town, Les Touches, explains the city councilor.
She was recruited “as a young job at the end of the 1990s on social mediation missions”, before taking the competitive examination of the municipal police, adds the elected official.
“She is fine, we heard from her colleague Thierry, we can’t wait to see her again”, explains, reassured, the hairdresser who runs the salon “L’Atelier de Margot” located just behind the municipal police and its blue walls sky.
“We had just seen her five minutes before” the assault, back from the market which is held on Friday morning, she says, insisting that “she is really someone dedicated to his work” , “charming” and “very close to its people”.
– “She was lucky” –
“She’s a wonderful girl, she was lucky,” rejoices Laurence for her part, who shared her room with the policewoman several years ago during a ski trip.
Laurence, 54, explains that the forty-something is “dynamic, funny, she has a lot of humor”.
“She is a dynamic woman, proud of her profession”, abounds a policeman who knew her, adding that “she is a sportswoman, a surfer”, while the mayor Fabrice Roussel specifies that she practices badminton.
Frédérique, a 49-year-old executive in an insurance company, did not know Katell Lereec directly, so she wrote “For the police” on the bouquet of flowers she came to drop off.
“We are very touched for her, and then for the little girl who was kidnapped (…) so we wanted to say that we were there with them,” says Frédérique, referring to the person who was sequestered for 2:30 the day before by the suspect during his run.
Frédérique came accompanied by her 12-year-old son, Jules, who was confined, like the 3,000 students of the city, on Friday, during the hunt.
“We underwent confinement for I believe almost three hours, in the dark, under the tables, during the first two hours, we were not allowed to speak,” recalls the teenager.
The mayor indicates that he will be attentive to the psychological follow-up of the students, as well as of the seven people who witnessed the assault. In addition a fourth agent should come to supplement the team of the municipal police force “in the coming months”.
Like Frédérique, Yoann, 28, brought flowers anonymously.
“It is a gesture that seems necessary to me in terms of good citizenship, we must know how to thank our police forces who are all too often criticized,” he said.
