France shooting: Four dead after gun attack on British car in French Alps near Grenoble

Three people were found shot dead inside a British-registered BMW following a gun massacre that also left a male cyclist dead and a young girl fighting for her life at a French alpine beauty spot near Chevaline, in the French Alps.

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Three of the bodies were found inside a British-registered BMW estate car, while the body of a male cyclist was found nearby in what was described as a “dramatic” crime scene.

The girl was found seriously injured next to the car when emergency crews arrived at the woodland car park near Chevaline, close to Lake Annecy in the French Alps.

Items found in the car suggested that the victims were British.

A British cyclist is understood to have discovered the bodies at 3.50pm yesterday, and is now helping police despite being badly shaken.

One police source said the cyclist had “stumbled across a massacre”, adding that the dead appeared to have been victims of a “deliberate assassination”. Cartridges found at the scene appeared to show that the gunshots came from outside the vehicle.

The Foreign Office said that it was investigating the reports in order to dispatch staff from the nearest British consulate in Marseille to Grenoble where the young girl was in hospital. It could not say for certain if the victims were British. The British embassy in Paris was liaising with UK police.

One theory being investigated is that the occupants of the car may have been targeted because they were in an expensive vehicle, and were tricked into pulling off the road before robbery turned to murder. Police believe the cyclist who was found dead may have tried to intervene when he witnessed an armed robbery taking place.

Eric Maillaud, the investigating prosecutor from Annecy, said: “Two men and two women are the victims. The car is a British-registered BMW estate. One of the male victims was a cyclist. He was found near his bike in his cycling gear. The other man was in the driving seat of the car. The two women were in the back of the car.

“It is a dramatic crime scene like we see on the TV. There is a large number of gun cartridges at the crime scene.”

A police spokesman said a “young girl probably under the age of 10” was airlifted to hospital after being “seriously injured by gunfire”. The spokesman added: “We are looking at the possibility that the three dead people in the car and the young girl were all from the same family. A full multiple murder investigation is under way.”

No firearms were found either inside or near to the vehicle, the officer said.

Firemen who were the first officials to arrive on the scene found the three bodies in the car, which had bullet holes in the bodywork.

Didier Berthollet, the mayor of Chevaline, told a local newspaper that “the victims were not from the village”. He added: “We have never seen such horror on our doorsteps before. The police have interviewed everyone in the village hoping to find a witness. There are only 70 homes, so it didn’t take them long.”

Residents reportedly saw a white car leaving the area at speed between 3pm and 4pm. The car park in the Combe d’Ire forest, which is four miles from the nearest house, is often used by walkers who leave their cars there before setting off. Earlier this summer the Foreign Office warned British tourists driving on the Continent that they were regarded as “easy targets” by gangs which staged accidents to make them stop before robbing them. A French police officer said: “It’s the time of year, the thieves go for tourists who they see as rich.”

Lake Annecy is a popular Alpine resort and attracts thousands of British and foreign tourists every summer. The second largest lake in France, it is marketed as a place of “serenity and relaxation”. Known as the “Venice of the Alps” the area is popular with cyclists, water skiers, hikers and campers.

France recently tightened its laws on illegal firearms amid a worrying rise in the use of guns by criminals. In July a gunman using an assault rifle shot dead two people and injured five at a nightclub in Lille after being turned away. In March, Mohammed Merah, who claimed to be linked to al-Qaeda, killed four people at a Jewish school and three soldiers in southern France. He was killed after a 32-hour siege in Toulouse.

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