In New Caledonia, a man fired at the police and was shot and wounded by members of the GIGN. His prognosis is ‘life-threatening’, the Nouméa public prosecutor announced on Thursday 30 May

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening in Dumbéa, north of Nouméa. The public prosecutor said that two separate investigations had been opened: one for ‘attempted murder of a person in a position of public authority’ against the injured man, and the other to determine the ‘causes of the injuries’ inflicted by the GIGN, although the theory of ‘legitimate self-defence’ is preferred.

The incident occurred on Wednesday at around 8.15pm local time (11.15am Paris time), just as the violence in New Caledonia, linked to a disputed electoral reform, seemed to be subsiding. Alerted to the presence of a ‘group of drunken individuals’, the elite gendarmes confronted ‘around fifteen very hostile individuals’, according to Yves Dupas.

One of the individuals fled and fired a rifle at the GIGN. A gendarme then returned fire, firing ‘six times at the gunman’ after further warnings. The wounded gunman was later found.

Transported to hospital, the man underwent surgery, but his vital prognosis remains at risk, with two projectiles, one to the chest and the other to the shoulder, according to the public prosecutor.

The investigation is seeking to determine the circumstances surrounding the use of the weapon by the gendarme, the preferred hypothesis being that of ‘legitimate defence in the face of imminent danger to life’.

At the same time, another investigation being conducted by the Noumea research unit is targeting the man for attempted murder of a public official. Three other people, suspected of throwing stones at the GIGN, were also arrested and were still in police custody on Thursday.