Global InformationAnnecy shootings information
| Annecy shootings | |
|---|---|
 Location of the family's campsite Location of the shootings | |
| Location | Near Chevaline, Haute-Savoie, France |
| Coordinates | 45°43′46″N 06°13′28″E / 45.72944°N 6.22444°E |
| Date | 5 September 2012 c.15:45 CEST (UTC+02:00) |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Deaths | 4 |
| Injured | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Unknown |
The Annecy shootings, also the French Alps shootings or the Chevaline killings, were the deaths on 5 September 2012 of three members of a British family and a French citizen on the Route Forestière Domaniale de la Combe d'Ire near Chevaline, Haute-Savoie, France, near the southern end of Lake Annecy.
Four people were killed: an Iraqi-born British tourist named Saad al-Hilli, 50; his wife Iqbal, 47; her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, who held a Swedish passport; and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45. The al-Hillis' two daughters both survived the attack. One, aged 4, was hidden under the legs of her dead mother in the rear footwell for eight hours even while the Gendarmerie were on the scene; she was only discovered by specialist forensic investigators. The elder daughter, aged 7, was shot in the shoulder and also suffered a head wound; she returned to the United Kingdom on 14 September 2012.
Police investigated al-Hilli's past in Iraq as an engineer on sensitive topics, as well as his work at the time of his death, as a potential motive for the attack.[1]
The attack has been compared to the 1952 killing of biochemist Jack Drummond in the Dominici affair.[1][2][3]
In September 2017, after five years of investigation, French police said they had "no working theory" to explain the murders and no suspects. Veronique Dizot, the lead prosecutor, suggested that the family "may have been targeted randomly".[4]
- ^ a b John Lichfield (9 September 2012). "The massacre in the Alps". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ^ "Chilling similarities: Massacre of British family in French Alps echoes mass shooting of three Brits in same region 60 years ago". Daily Mirror. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
- ^ Hobbs, David (7 September 2012). "Father Murdered in French Alps 'Known' To British Security Services". Retrieved 2 July 2022.
- ^ Honebeek, Talya (26 June 2022). "The true story behind Murder in the Alps as Channel 4 launches new al-Hilli documentary". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2 July 2022.