“We don’t understand”: after the knife attack on a couple of bakers and the arrest of a minor, the shock in Vias

L’Amie de pain est situé dans la rue Jean-Manzanera, à Vias village. Mickael ESDOURRUBAILH – Mickael ESDOURRUBAILH

Le couple de gérants du point de vente de pain et pâtisseries a été attaqué au couteau ce vendredi 9 août, au petit matin, dans sa boutique de la rue Jean-Manzarena, à Vias.

The dozen or so shopkeepers who run shops around L'Amie de pain, those on rue Jean-Manzanera as well as those on boulevard de la Liberté, say they are in “shock” this Friday, August 9.

As a reminder, around 5 a.m., the couple who run the neighboring bread and pastry shop were violently attacked in their business with knife wounds. The man received seven stab wounds. His life was in danger, and he was immediately airlifted to Montpellier University Hospital by the Sdis firefighters. He is in intensive care this Friday evening.

His wife, meanwhile, was stabbed three times. After being examined and treated by the staff at Béziers hospital, she was able to return home, said Raphaël Balland, the Béziers public prosecutor.

The alleged attacker, a 15-year-old boy from Viassois, was arrested by the gendarmes of the Marseillan brigade community. Placed in police custody, he allegedly indicated that he was the perpetrator of the violence.

“A bloodbath on the sidewalk”

“On the sidewalk, in front of the bakery, it was a bloodbath. Fortunately, by 9 a.m., everything had been cleaned up”, says one of the hairdressers at Aux Ciseaux d'Or, a salon adjoining L'Amie de pain. And to insist: “It's a shock. They're a super nice couple. We don't understand. Here, it's a quiet area, a little less so in the evening, but nothing extraordinary.”

Concerning the alleged perpetrator, she only knows that “the police went to the parents' house” of the latter, who lives with them.

A little further on, the florist, a friend of the couple, closed her shop at 5 p.m., leaving a note on the door: “Exceptional closure at 5 p.m., thank you for your understanding, Nathalie”. In a hurry, her eyes upset, she quickly leaves for the respective hospitals, "to get news" of the victims.

"Very serious" facts, according to the Pézenas gendarmerie

The same silence from the Pézenas gendarmerie, to whom the public prosecutor has entrusted the investigations, describing the facts as "very serious" and not wanting to say more.

At the Koirium bar restaurant, not far from L'Amie de pain, tongues are just a little looser: “We don't understand, they're a hard-working couple, calm, pleasant. She doesn't usually open the door. He's all alone. Luckily, he asked her this morning to come help him. Fortunately, because she was able to call the police, he was no longer able to do so."

On the alleged aggressor, the manager of the bar restaurant and regulars will not say much, except that he seems "unstable", "idle", and that he is apparently known to the victims.

The prosecution extended the minor's custody into the evening. The investigation concerns attempted premeditated murders, probably in view of the opening of a judicial inquiry on the evening of Saturday, August 10.

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