Suspected of possessing child pornography images, a police officer commits suicide

Suspected of possessing child pornography images, a police officer commits suicide

A Strasbourg police officer, suspected of having downloaded child pornography images and heard about it last week by the IGPN, committed suicide this Monday in his former police station, said a source close to the case.

This 35-year-old brigadier, father of a family, was interviewed on August 18 by the IGPN for a few hours because he was suspected of having downloaded images of a child pornography nature, said this source, confirming information given by RTL. He was released shortly after.

The man, who had just been transferred to a new department of the Bas-Rhin Public Security Directorate, went today to his former police station, in the Neuhof district of Strasbourg. He entered the office of a former colleague whose weapon he managed to steal, before shooting himself in the mouth, said a source close to the case.

The Strasbourg prosecutor, Michel Senthille, refused to make any communication on this matter. The Departmental Directorate of Public Security also declined any comment. Local media reported last week that a search had taken place at his home and that dozens of images had been seized, the child pornography nature of which had yet to be confirmed.

The Strasbourg public prosecutor's office had been alerted as part of an international investigation, these media reported.