Eric Borel

Infobox Mass Murderer
name = Eric Borel


image_size =
caption =
birthname = Eric Borel
occupation = Student (Electromechanics)
birth = 1979
location =
death = September 24 1995
deathplace = Cuers, France
cause = Suicide by gunshot
penalty =
date = September 23 – September 24 1995
targets =
locations = Solliès-Pont & Cuers, France
fatalities = 14
injuries = 5
weapons = .22 LR rifle, pistol, baseball bat, hammer

Eric Borel (1979 - September 24 1995) was a French spree killer who, at the age of 16, murdered his family, and afterwards shot dead eleven other people and injured five more in an half-hour rampage through the streets of Cuers in the arrondissement of Toulon which ended with his suicide, bringing the death toll to 15.

Biography

Eric was the son of Marie-Jeanne Parenti and Jacky Borel, who were both working in the military at the time of his birth. However their liaison was rather short, and after their paths departed, Eric was sent to Jacky's parents in Limoges, where he stayed until he was five. When his mother, who had visited Eric only every now and then up to that time, married Jean-Yves Bichet, she again took care of her son. Much to his dislike, she took him to their home in Solliès-Pont. [http://www.affaires-criminelles.com/dossier_19-1.php La tuerie de Cuers, "affaires-criminelles"] ] [http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=9225846&top=SPIEGEL Eine Art von Rache, "Der Spiegel"] (41/1995)]

Apparently his mother, an authoritarian and – at least outwardly – religious person, mistreated and beat Eric who, in her eyes, was a "child of sin"; moreover he never developed a close relationship with his step-father. It is not surprising that Eric, when he broke his arm at the age of eight, preferred to run away and hide, until he was found, shivering from pain. [http://www.geocities.com/drapokalypse/kartei/amok/borel.htm Eric Borel, ein typischer Amokläufer] ]

In this situation the quiet and taciturn boy, who mostly kept to himself and rather tended the chickens in the backyard during his free time than to go out, grew up, developing an increasing admiration for the military and telling lies about heroic deeds of his father during the Indochina War. He had an affection to weapons and used to shoot sparrows with an air gun.

Until his death Eric attended the lycée professionnel Georges-Cisson in Toulon, where he was doing quite well. He was said to be a disciplined and quiet student, but in his last year at school he showed some radical change in behaviour, skipping classes without permission or explanation and became unaffable. He regularly said that he couldn't bear it anymore at home, having enough of doing housework and being called names, and often stated his wish to join the military, like his father and grandfather. Apparently he also told one of his classmates at one time that he'd like to kill two or three.

Many reports erroneously stated his room being fully of Nazi-insignia, but besides a picture of Adolf Hitler, cut out from a newspaper, and a few books about World War II, as well as a documentary about David Koresh and the Waco siege nothing of significance has been found after his death. Also a girl from Cuers spread the story, Eric had told her about his relationship to his half-sister called Caroline, but this sister in question didn't exist either, nor was it true that his father had died from cancer shortly before his rampage.

Course of events

eptember 23rd

6pm – Eric kills his step-father in the kitchen by shooting him four times with a .22-caliber rifle. Police assumes that they had a quarrel beforehand, when Eric tried to run away from home. Subsequently to shooting Yves Bichet, Eric battered his half-brothers head with a hammer, who was watching TV at that time, and after cleaning the bloody mess he had created he waited for his mother.

8.30pm – As soon as she came home from church, Eric welcomed Marie-Jeanne Parenti with a shot to the head, killing her. Some reports state he also hit her, as well as Mr. Bichet with the hammer and a baseball bat. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFD6143AF936A1575AC0A963958260 "Teen-Age Gunman Kills Himself and 12 Others in France," "The New York Times"] . September 25, 1995.] After his mother lay dead, Eric once again started to clean the house and afterwards took his rifle and a pistol and made his way towards Cuers, at first by car, but when he crashed it into a wall, he continued his path by foot. Presumably he spent the night between vines. ["Death brings rampage toll to 13," "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel". September 26, 1995.]

eptember 24th

7.15am – When Eric arrived at the home of his only friend Alan Guillemette, it was his mother who opened and Eric asked her to wake him. The two had a lengthy discussion in the garden, apparently Eric wanted something from Alan, but when he declined and turned to go back into the house, Eric shot him in the back, wounding him fatally.

7.30am – From that time on Eric started shooting people at random. No one grew suspicious of his rifle until it was too late, as it was hunting season and thus the sight not unexpected.

First he shot at Ginette Vialette through an open window, mortally wounding her, as well as Denise Otto, whom he killed, while she was bringing the trash out. He also hit Denise's husband Jean in the shoulder. Next Eric injured an elderly woman, who was walking in the streets with her husband and shot and wounded two brothers who were crossing his path. The shots he fired at Rodolphe Incorvailla, once again through an open window, were eventually lethal. He later died in hospital. Eric crossed the street to shoot and kill shopkeeper Mario Pagani, who was out buying a newspaper, with shots in the abdomen and head, as well as Moroccan Mohammed Maarad in front of the "Café du Commerce". Marius Boudon and André Touret were murdered while they were drawing money from an ATM and Andrée Poletta while she was taking her poodle for a walk. Finally he shot Pascal Moustaki to death at Place Peyssoneau. [ [http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1995/09/25/sociedad/66470.html Un joven neonazi mata a 12 personas en Francia, "El Mundo"] ]

The last whose life was brought to an end in Eric's trail of blood would be 68-year old Pierre Marigliano, who succumbed to his wounds on March 2, 1996, bringing the death toll to 14. ["Le Monde". March 6, 1996.]

8.00am – When police arrived at the scene Eric Borel committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Observers of the rampage stated he had been poised and calm all the while, taking great care at aiming and shooting, hitting most of his victims in the head and returning when he didn't hit properly the first time. In total Eric had shot about forty times.

His shooting spree through the streets of Cuers was the deadliest act of mass murder in France since Christian Dornier killed 14 people in Luxiol on July 12 1989.

Victims

External links

* [http://www.oodoc.com/27726-Cuers-forclusion-criminalite-criminel.php La tuerie de Cuers : forclusion et criminalité, un lien possible?]
* [http://www.cafepedagogique.net/lemensuel/lenseignant/schumaines/ses/Documents/ERIC.DOC Meurtres sans Paroles, "Le Monde"] (.doc-file)
* [http://www.humanite.fr/1995-09-28_Articles_-Tuerie-de-Cuers-le-temoignage-du-maire Tuerie de Cuers : le témoignage du maire, "humanite.fr"]

References