William M.’s parents described to the Parisian a lifelong lonely man who never recovered from a burglary at his home in 2016.
“He has always been withdrawn, silent”. William M., 69, is suspected of having murdered three Kurds last Friday in Paris. He was charged and remanded in custody on Monday. While in police custody, he described himself as “depressive” and “suicidal”. He also declared himself as openly “racist”, explaining that he “always wanted to murder migrants, foreigners”.
The newspaper The Parisian went to meet the nonagenarian parents of the alleged shooter, who are trying to understand their son’s motivations in the deadly attack on rue d’Enghien, in the tenth arrondissement of the capital.
A revenge “that he has been maturing since the burglary affair”
In a statement from the prosecutor’s office this weekend, it is pointed out that a burglary at William M.’s home in 2016 appears to have acted as the trigger for a “hatred of foreigners that has become completely pathological.” Both father and mother confirm the important effect of this event on their son.
“It is an unforgivable act and a totally disproportionate revenge that he has matured since the case of the burglary of his house, in Livry-Gargan (Seine-Saint-Denis)”, declares the father daily.
In February 2016 the alleged shooter surprised three young men at his home. A fan of martial arts, he decides to do battle with them with a knife: two will be seriously injured. Arriving on the spot, the police discovered in the house about thirty weapons, including weapons of war, that his license did not allow him. William M. will be sentenced for prohibited possession of weapons and indicted for the stabbing of his burglars and will receive a suspended sentence of twelve months in prison which he appealed.
“Recently, two of his three burglars, those who were injured, decided to sue him in civil proceedings and demanded 30,000 euros each in damages”, assures the mother of William M. According to her, “this increased his rage tenfold against foreigners.
“He was like a zombie the last few days”
The suspect is also suspected of a saber attack on a migrant camp in December 2021. A year later, investigations into this attack “are still in progress”, a judicial source told AFP. Placed in pre-trial detention, he was released on December 12, under judicial control, with in particular the prohibition to hold a weapon.
The mother, who explains to vote for the National Rally, like the father, who says he is on the left, assures that they do not know their son belongs to any political group.
After the 2016 burglary, the alleged shooter returned to live with his parents, in a 6m² room, according to The Parisian. “Since a young age, he has always been withdrawn, silent,” reports the father. However, the couple adds that since his recent release from prison, their son had changed, “he was like a zombie these last few days. But since he spoke very little, we suspected nothing”.
They describe a solitary life, without alcohol, tobacco or mobile phones and a passion for languages: the man would have learned to read and speak Russian and Hebrew on his own.
The day before the triple murder, the parents suspected nothing. “We played Scrabble as if nothing had happened,” William M.’s mother tells the Parisian. On the morning of the incident, “he said nothing when he left (…) He’s crazy. He’s crazy,” the suspect’s father reacted to AFP on Friday.
