Christian Dornier

Name

Christian Dornier

Status / legal outcome

Christian Dornier was found insane on November 10, 1989 and was never tried for any murder. He was diagnosed to suffer from schizophrenia and thus could not be held accountable for his crime according to French law. He was treated in a psychiatric hospital in Sarreguemines since April 1991.

The offence

Christian Dornier shot to death his sister and mother and wounded his father with a shotgun on July 12, 1989. After that, he drove through the village of Luxiol and the adjacent area, shooting people at random.

A total of 14 people were killed and eight others were injured in his half-hour shooting spree, before police managed to subdue him.

Police said Dornier was suffering from what police described as a fit of madness. Police said his life was not in danger after he was captured.

During the spree, Dornier shot and seriously injured his father and killed a veterinary surgeon visiting the family farm in Luxiol before turning his weapon on his mother and his newly married sister. He then fatally turned his weapon on his mother and his newly married sister, according to the case summary.

Dornier drove through the streets of his village, firing indiscriminately at passers-by, including children. Luxiol was described as a hamlet of 140 people about 275 miles southeast of Paris near the Swiss border.

Eyewitnesses speaking on French radio said three children strolling in the streets of Luxiol were killed, and that a man was shot to death inside his kitchen when Dornier opened fire.

He gunned down a teacher in one village and killed two people in a parked car at an intersection. Police said eight people, including an officer, were seriously injured during Dornier’s half-hour rampage.

A police pursuit followed after Dornier’s mother alerted police and died later in a hospital. Police pursued Dornier through two nearby villages as he continued his shooting spree. Police said there were two gun battles with police before Dornier was finally captured.

The later account also described Dornier picking up a double barrel shotgun, shooting his father, wounding him, killing a local veterinarian called out to the farm earlier, and blowing his mother and recently married sister apart with the shotgun. It also described him walking through the town of Luxiol shooting indiscriminately at anything that moved, and within three minutes killing three young children: “one girl who was playing in her front yard and two boys riding their bikes through the street.” The later account described his use of a VW Golf and described multiple encounters involving police attempting to stop him, a neighbor managing to wound him, and him killing additional people before driving off. It also described him going to the next village, Autechaux, killing a farmer on his tractor, and killing three passing motorists during his car ride. The account described him continuing through to the next town, Verne, where he was seriously wounded by police.

Investigation

Police said there were two gun battles with police, and the badly wounded Dornier was finally captured.

Police said Dornier had been under treatment for nervous depression. The case summary also noted that much to the anger of the victims’ families, French law could not hold him accountable because he was found insane and diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Arrest / capture

Dornier was captured after police gun battles. After capture, police said his life was not in danger.

Trial

Dornier was never tried for any murder because he was found insane on November 10, 1989.

Outcome

Christian Dornier was found insane on November 10, 1989, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and could not be held accountable for his crime under French law.

Victims and injured persons

Killed (14)

1. Jeanne Dornier, 57, Christian Dornier’s mother
2. Corinne Dornier, 26, Christian Dornier’s sister
3. Marcel Lechine, 45
4. Johann Robez-Masson, 10
5. Johnny Robez-Masson, 14
6. Stanislas Périllard, 79
7. Marie Périllard, 81, sister of Stanislas Périllard
8. Louis Cuenot, 67
9. Louis Liard, 50
10. Pauline Faivre-Pierret, 5
11. Louis Girardot, 47
12. Georges Pernin, 40
13. teacher from Autechaux
14. Pierre Boeuf

Injured (8)

Eight others were injured in Dornier’s half-hour shooting spree, including an officer.

Quotes (verbatim)

“There was no argument or quarrel of any kind . . . He just picked up his gun and fired it point blank at Corinne, killing her instantly. Then my mother telephoned the police . . . He fired and killed her too.”
Dornier’s brother

“He had no friends, hardly ever talked to anybody. We knew he was going to create havoc one day and the police should have dealt with him months ago. Unfortuantly, our laws don't allow such preventative action.”
Dominique Cuenot

“Everyone was frightened of him.”
A female resident

“mildly depressive. I saw him this morning and he was very calm.”
Georges Dornier, the man’s uncle

“He seemed completely out of his mind.”
An insightful comment from one of the survivors

Other details

Christian Dornier was described as a French spree killer. He was described as a farmer armed with a shotgun who killed at least 14 people in a rampage through three eastern French villages.

The later account included the view that “As far as I know he's sitting comfortably in a nice padded room at the moment.”

On July 12, 1989, the later account described Dornier as “a man known by most in his town as being a complete toss.”

The case summary reported that the bloodshed was the worst in France since October 1978, when 10 people were shot to death in a Marseilles bar in what police believed was a gang murder.