4 younger youngsters and their mom had been killed of their French residence. The father is in custody

MEAUX, France — Four youngsters between 9 months and 10 years previous and their mom had been killed of their condo east of Paris, in what native authorities known as an exceptionally violent crime. The youngsters’s father was arrested Tuesday and is the first suspect.

Neighbors noticed a pool of blood outdoors the household’s door on Christmas Day and alerted police, who found the 5 our bodies, Prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier informed reporters within the metropolis of Meaux.

The mom and two daughters, ages 7 and 10, had been stabbed a number of occasions in a single day from Sunday to Monday, he mentioned. The couple’s two sons, ages 9 months and 4 years previous, had been suffocated or drowned. The prosecutor described a small, blood-stained condo in excessive disarray.

Flowers, a stuffed toy and a vacation garland adorned a fence outdoors the condo constructing Tuesday, in honor of the victims. The home windows of the condo had been shuttered.

The motive for the killings was unclear. The suspect, a 33-year-old man born within the Paris suburb of Colombes, was arrested Tuesday outdoors his father’s residence northeast of the French capital, the prosecutor mentioned.

“The human toll is horrifying, a whole family was killed, stabbed in an atrocious conditions. It’s an absolute horror,″ Meaux Mayor Jean-Francois Cope told The Associated Press.

The suspect had stabbed his partner once before, when she was pregnant with their older son in 2019, but the investigation was dropped because he was declared mentally unsound at the time of the attack, the prosecutor said. The suspect had been placed in a psychiatric hospital in 2017, and also attempted suicide that year, the prosecutor said.

The couple had been together for 14 years and had known each other since high school, Bladier said.

None of the family members’ names were released, according to French law protecting minors who are victims of crimes.

Authorities are opening an investigation into five homicides, and the suspect will undergo psychiatric examination to determine the next steps, the prosecutor said.

The killings rekindled public discussion about domestic violence – more than 100 women have been killed by their current or former partners in France so far this year – and about mental health.

The mayor called for coordinated action to address violence by people with psychiatric problems and to protect victims before it’s too late.

“I recognize the feeling of helplessness in such an event, but on a national level we need to have a deep assessment and rethinking of the consequences of psychiatric troubles on the families of these individuals,” he mentioned.

Neighbors struggled to digest the information.

“It was simply a mother fighting for her children, she was never complaining,” neighbor Maissa Ketfi mentioned. “We all had a big knot in our stomachs when we learned what happened. … We cannot even imagine the scene.”

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Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.