Eric Borel

 VICTIMS: 13

Once again William Hemmann has sent me a tale to put up here. This time we get to look into one of the more successful mass murderers of recent times, the French teenager Eric Borel.
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Neighbours describe Eric Borel as taciturn, and that they didn't know him or his family very well. They didn't know that this quiet 17-year old was full of homicidal rage. Apparently Eric was upset over his father's recent death from cancer. The posters of Hitler and other neo-Nazi themes he displayed all over his walls might have helped fuel his rage.

He awoke on the morning of September 24, 1995 with murder on his mind. He started the day off with killing his mother, stepfather, and 11-year old brother with a hammer and a baseball bat. Then he picked up a .22 calibre hunting rifle and left the village of Sollies-Pont, where he lived, walking 3 miles to the nearby town of Cuers.

Once he reached the town he began firing randomly at passer-bys in a parking lot outside a bank. Then he walked into the town square and towards city hall, still shooting at people. After killing seven and wounding nine people, Eric must have quenched his thirst for murder, and he put a bullet in his own head. Two of the wounded died later at the hospital.

Victims of the shooting were taken to neighbouring towns or treated in an emergency medical station set up at the Cuers soccer stadium. City officials also set up a temporary chapel where relatives and residents could go for solace. The bodies of Borel's three family members were not found until after the shooting.

A witnesses quote: "The killer had a peaceful look, calmly reloading his rifle. He headed towards city hall while continuing to fire and then he turned around to finish off the man whom he had wounded in the leg."

And now I'll add a few things that interested me about young Eric -

This is how some of them died (according to an AP story)-
An old woman was shot as she walked her dog, an elderly man gunned down on his way to a cafe. Two victims were killed while withdrawing money from a cash machine, and another while playing boules, the provincial bowling game, on the village square. Mr Sintes said he watched the killer retrace his steps toward a man he had wounded in the stomach to shoot him again in the head, killing him.

After his death, police search his room and found the usual decorations of these young nutters - swastikas, racist graffiti, a red flag with a stylised swastika and violent videos like The Silence of the Lambs and the Terminator

The owner of a cafe in Cuers who witnessed the shootings said "It was like he was hunting birds. He was very calm, very poised. He put the gun to his shoulder, held his gun steady, adjusted his aim and fired."

A female witness stated " He was shooting at anything that moved. He was firing everywhere."

" I saw him go past my shop with his rifle, at around 8 this morning. He was walking calmly. He wasn't in a hurry. At first I thought he was a hunter. He was about 25 meters from my place when I saw him shoot a passerby, a shopkeeper who I think was hit in the head." said Newsstand owner Frederic Bares

And some rumours that I've never seen confirmed-
Eric's biological father had died of cancer shortly before the killing spree.
Eric reputedly had an argument with a girl just prior to the killings.
 

MY OPINION

A really amazing spree that hardly even rated a mention in our press Down Under. And I have heard very little about the case since it happened, which really sucks. In fact I had forgotten all about it until William sent me the story. So I must thank William Hemann not only for doing the story, but also for renewing my interest in this guy. I really want to know more about him. And from there I guess it goes without saying that I rate him very highly.