Shots fired at 10am as gunmen attempt to steal €7 million from armoured van in France
The assailants fled the scene empty-handed, say police
Police arrived at the scene very quickly after shots were fired, a local shopkeeper told the AFP
Alexander Lukatskiy / Victor Velter / Shutterstock
Gunmen attacked an armoured cash transporter van in central Grenoble (Isère) this morning (October 10), leaving two people injured, officials have confirmed.
The vehicle, operated by Loomis, was carrying around €7 million in cash
The attack took place just after 10:00 near the centre of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes city.
None of the would-be thieves or van staff were injured and the attackers were unsuccessful in their attempt to steal either the van and/or any cash.
An inquiry into the incident has been opened by a special crime unit in Lyon.
‘Exchange of fire’
“Two people were slightly injured as a result of road accidents caused by the event and by shards of glass,” the Grenoble public prosecutor told the press.
At least two vehicles were blocked in the attack, including “the armoured cash-in-transit van”, and there was an “exchange of fire” between the couriers and the assailants, who then fled, the police told AFP.
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The gendarmerie told AFP that it later found a vehicle “burned out” in the town of Pont-de-Claix, on the southern outskirts of Grenoble, which is believed to be linked to the attack.
The case has been passed to the organised crime investigation unit la Division de la criminalité organisée et spécialisée (DCOS).
Videos posted online - including by local newspaper outlet Le Dauphiné Libéré, below - show the front cab of a white van burning in the middle of the road. This fire was later extinguished by firefighters, and the vehicle was removed by investigators.
Context of gun violence
The owner of a nearby shop described the moment when everyone nearby heard gunshots. “When we heard the shots, we all jumped down,” he told the AFP. “Everyone got under the counters. By the time we understood what was going on, it was over.”
He said that the gunfire lasted no more than one or two minutes, and that the police arrived quickly.
"No one is prepared for something like this,” he said. “We tried to talk about it amongst ourselves (with the customers) and to understand.”
The attack comes as Grenoble is already on tenterhooks following several recent episodes of shootings between drug dealers. In early September, a Grenoble municipal employee, Lilan Dejean, was shot dead by a man who was on the run and known to police for offences involving violence and drug trafficking.
Since the beginning of the year, around 20 episodes of gun violence have been recorded in the city, in what authorities are now calling “gang warfare”.
