A man suspected of having killed Lilian Dejean, a municipal agent, in Grenoble in September, was arrested on Thursday, November 21 in Portugal and checks are being carried out to guarantee his identity, announced the prosecutor of the Alpine city.
“A man who is probably Abdoul D.”suspect in the murder of Mr. Dejean, “he has just been arrested in Portugal under the European arrest warrant » issued after the tragedy, Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant told the press. Is “thanks to the investigations carried out by the French police” the organized and specialized crime divisions of Lyon and Grenoble, and “thanks to European police and judicial cooperation”that the suspect could be arrested, according to Vaillant.
Lilian Dejean, a 49-year-old father, was shot in the chest in the early hours of September 8, while trying to prevent the escape of a man who had caused an accident while driving a powerful rental car registered in Poland. The municipal employee died shortly after in the hospital. The event aroused immense emotion among his colleagues and neighbors. The driver of the vehicle hit by the suspect during the accident, an elderly woman, was slightly injured.
Six deaths by firearm in Grenoble since the beginning of the year
As for the alleged murderer, 25 years old and whose identity document was found in the damaged car that he had abandoned at the scene, he has been wanted since then. The police carried out several searches, including at his home in Saint-Martin-d’Hères (Isère), on the outskirts of Grenoble. A judicial investigation was opened for “murder of a person responsible for a public service mission”, “unintentional injuries”, “aggravated by speed and hit and run”, and “possession of category B weapons”, according to Vaillant.
The suspect is known to the courts in particular for “robbery, violence and drug trafficking”, and for having beaten, together with five fellow prisoners, another prisoner in the pre-trial detention center of Varces (Isère) in June 2023 . Tried in August 2023 for this violence. , received a four-month prison sentence accompanied by a five-year weapons ban. A week after his return to prison, he was involved in new acts of violence for which he would be tried on October 3.
Since the beginning of the year, the metropolis of Grenoble has once again experienced tensions and the judicial authorities no longer hesitate to talk about “gang war”. At the end of October, the prosecutor counted around fifty shootings linked to drug trafficking since the beginning of 2024, which left six dead.
