Guy Martel

The offence

Guy Martel killed seven people and wounded five others in a shooting spree through a string of towns in northern Brittany.

Martel killed his father, Victor Martel, and an uncle of his, Charles Martel. Other victims included Michel Lhommelet, Jean Chaussonnière, Pierre Bourtourault, Danièle Pomard, and Joseph Weber.

At the time of the attack, Martel was under treatment for mental problems in a hospital near Rennes for the past year.

Martel was reportedly armed with a .22-caliber rifle and killed or wounded people in Baguer Morvan, Dol-de-Bretagne, Saint Domineuc, Chapelle-aux-Fillzmeens, Combourg, Quebriac, and other towns during the spree.

Timeline

• 19 June 1985 (about 10 a.m.) — Martel’s father came to visit him; after an argument, Martel took a .22-caliber rifle and drove to Baguer-Morvan.
• 19 June 1985 (about 11 a.m.) — Martel arrived at the home of his uncle, 64-year-old Charles Martel, in Dol-de-Bretagne, shot Charles Martel three times, and shot at one cousin but missed.
• 19 June 1985 (after arriving at the retirement home) — Martel entered the kitchen of the retirement home, told the cook Mrs. Lozac’h he would come back later (“Je reviendrai tout à l'heure.”), and shot at her, grazing her head.
• 19 June 1985 (at doctor Launay’s office) — Martel entered the room of Launay’s colleague, Michel Lhommelet, and killed him with four shots to the back.
• 19 June 1985 — Martel shot and killed Mrs. Le Maréchal, then returned to Baguer-Morvan and killed his father outside his house by shooting him several times.
• 19 June 1985 — As police began their search operation, Martel went to Rocher-Aoustin near Combourg and killed Joseph Weber.
• 19 June 1985 — In La Chapelle-aux-Filtzméens Martel shot at brothers Jean and Eugène Chaussonnière, killing Jean and seriously wounding Eugène.
• 19 June 1985 — In Saint-Domineuc Pierre Bourtourault was shot dead while gathering hay at the roadside.
• 19 June 1985 — In Quebriac Martel killed Danièle Pomard; her body was found at 13:35 by garbage collectors.
• 19 June 1985 — Near Trévérien Martel shot and wounded André Rehault on his tractor.
• 19 June 1985 (around 14:00) — Martel left Ille-et-Vilaine and drove into Cotes-du-Nord, wounded Daniel Lebreton and Raymond Prechoux, fired at three other persons, and was finally stopped by police in Saint-André-des-Eaux; he stepped out with hands raised and was arrested.
• 19 June 1985 — Martel told police: “Ne tirez pas! Je suis malade!” and later explained: “Au début, je n'avais affaire qu'à ma famille et a quelques autres personnes... Après, j'ai realise que c'était facile de tirer. Alors, j'ai continue.”

Background

Guy Martel was born in Paris in 1944 during the Nazi occupation of France. His father, Victor Martel, had been a member of the garde mobile, and he had three sisters.

Martel earned a degree in mathematics and chemistry. He joined the military and was sent to Costa Rica, where he taught in San José. He rarely spoke about his time there, but he said he had seen “horrible things” and had had to perform the duties of someone of higher rank, who had been killed.

In 1969 Martel was taken hostage by guerrilleros, or bandits, for three weeks. After his release he was flown back to France.

From then on he complained about being ill, saying he had caught a virus and suffered from intestinal pain and pain in the spine.

Martel accepted a position as a natural sciences teacher at Henri Matisse college in Issy-les-Moulineaux. In 1972, after less than two years, he quit due to a nervous disorder and was put on a long term disability leave.

Afterwards he had briefly been in mental institutions three times—once in Paris and twice in Brittany. He was accorded a degree of disability of 80%. In 1975 he was granted a disability pension and moved in with his parents in Baguer-Morvan.

When his mother died from a heart attack in 1976, his condition began to deteriorate and he saw hostility everywhere. Due to a growing discord between him and his father, he decided to live alone and bought a house in Dol-de-Bretagne in 1979.

Once there, Martel rarely left his home except to lie in his garden or play tennis at a local sports hall. He ate lunch every day at a home for elderly people.

Besides his father and an uncle, who occasionally came over to mow his lawn, and his doctor, Mr. Launay, he had no visitors and was known as “monsieur tout seul” (“Mr. all alone”) throughout the village.

Martel generally was quickly fatigued and he complained a lot about noise, especially those made by children, whom he called loud and annoying. When a child pressed his doorbell and ran away, Martel came out angrily and shouted: “If you do that again, I will kill you!”

It was also reported that Martel had been under treatment for mental problems in a hospital near Rennes since 1984.

Investigation

Police said a mental patient killed seven people, including his father and uncle, and wounded five more in a shooting spree in northern Brittany on Wednesday.

Police said Martel did not resist arrest.

Authorities said that Martel, reportedly armed with a .22-caliber rifle, had an unexplained way of leaving the hospital or acquiring the rifle.

Police began a search operation after reports of the loose gunman spread, with shops closed and children kept at school.

A police helicopter eventually spotted Martel while he was on the run, and he drove into Cotes-du-Nord.

Arrest

Martel was captured in the town of Evran. Police arrested him in Saint-André-des-Eaux at around 14:00 after he stepped out of his car with his hands raised and yelling: “Ne tirez pas! Je suis malade!” He was arrested.

When asked about the reason for him shooting people at random, Martel explained that at first he had business with his family and a few others, but upon realizing it was easy to shoot people, he continued:

“Au début, je n'avais affaire qu'à ma famille et a quelques autres personnes... Après, j'ai realise que c'était facile de tirer. Alors, j'ai continue.”

The victims

The fatalities were:

• Pierre Bourtourault, 74
• Jean Chaussonnière, 60
• Michel Lhommelet, 34
• Victor Martel, 65 (father of Guy Martel)
• Danièle Pomard, 33
• Joseph Weber, 65 (uncle of Guy Martel)
• Charles Martel, 64 (uncle of Guy Martel)

The injuries were reported as five wounded people, including:

• Eugène Chaussonnière, seriously wounded
• Mrs. Lozac’h, grazed by a shot to the head
• André Rehault, 29, shot and wounded on his tractor
• Daniel Lebreton, 34, wounded while eating lunch in his truck near Saint-Judoce
• Raymond Prechoux, 40, wounded in Saint-Juvat

Martel killed Danièle Pomard in Quebriac, and her body was found at 13:35 by garbage collectors.

Other details

Martel used a .22-caliber rifle with a scope that he had purchased about ten years prior from Manufrance.

Martel shot Charles Martel after first having a normal conversation with him. He told the cook at the retirement home: “Je reviendrai tout à l'heure.”

Martel entered the room of Launay’s colleague, Michel Lhommelet, who was examining a child, and killed him with four shots to the back.

Martel shot at three other persons before finally being stopped by police in Saint-André-des-Eaux.

Newspaper reports dated June 20, 1985 referred to Martel as Guy Martel, 41, and described him as a Frenchman who went on the rampage on June 19, 1985.