French schoolteacher kills police officer with sword

A French schoolteacher who accused of killing a policewoman with a Japanese sword and injuring another police officer and a civil servant has been detained awaiting trial. His pupils describe him as “bizarre” and say his lessons included references to invasion by Martians and werewolves.

Wikimedia Commons

The alleged killer, 33-year-old Olivier Roson, reportedly went berserk after being refused a gun permit, attacking an employee of the local prefecture and police officers who were called to the scene with a Japanese sword he had bought the day before.

One of the officers, 30-year-old Anne Pavageau, was killed before a third police officer shot him in the knee and stopped his rampage.

When questioned by police, Roson said he “felt betrayed” when the police arrived.

He has not “clearly expressed regret” for the incident, according to the public prosecutor and faces a possible life sentence.

Questioned by local journalists, Roson’s neighbours say that he kept his doors and shutters closed and appeared to believe that he was under surveillance.

And, while colleaugues described him as both “brilliant and taciturn”, some of his pupils complained about his teaching methods in a letter to school authorities. They claim that he predicted that the world would be invaded by Martians and declared that vampires and werewolves could exist during biology lessons.

Roson was a member of the small, right-leaning ecology party Cap-21.