French Alps shooting: First witness describes “horror scene”

The walker who alerted police after last weeks French Alps massacre described the scene as being “like a movie – but without the remote control to change the channel.”

Yesterday the French hiker spoke publicly about the attack after discovering the killings in forest car park close to Chevaline near Lake Annecy in eastern France.

The 41-year-old is known only as Philippe D.

British aeronautical engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Ikbal, 47, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, and Sylvain Mollier, a 45-year-old French cyclist, were shot dead and their eldest daughter Zainab severely beaten.

Philippe said he ran to the car park after meeting a “terrified cyclist”. The cyclist was an RAF officer and the two called an ambulance. They thought seven-year-old Zainab, who was lying on the road and shot in the shoulder, was dead.

Unknown to Philippe, the Al-Hillis’ youngest daughter Zeena, four, was hiding inside the car underneath her mother’s body.

Philippe said: “It was like in a movie… where everything begins with a murder, except the actors were us, and we didn’t have the remote control to change the channel.”

Philippe was with two female friends when driving towards the scene. At around 4pm they were approaching Chevaline when the “terrified cyclist” ran towards them.

The hiker said: “This man was in a panic and coming down the road.

‘He explained to me in bad French that there was a drama a little higher up.

‘He was trying to call an ambulance. I did not know if he didn’t have a mobile phone, or if his phone network was not connecting at this point.’

Philippe, who lives locally, ran up to the car park and found the family dead inside their BMW car.

“I approached the car. I did not touch anything, but I could see there was nothing more to be done. There was no sign of life.’

al-Hilli’s seven-year-old daughter, Zainab, suffered a fractured skull after being hit round the head.

Philippe told Le Parisien newspaper: “I then leaned over the little girl. She did not reply to our calls. I clapped my hands, but she was not reacting. I even said a few words in English, as I saw the car had British license plates, but nothing happened. As far as I was concerned she was dead.

“There wasn’t a sound – it was like in a movie, one of those TV series where everything begins with a murder, except this time the actors were us, and we didn’t have the remote control to change the channel.

‘We did not know whether we were alone or not, or whether we were in danger or not – whether the people who had done this were still there or not. We thought we were taking risks. The arrival of the emergency services reassured us.’

His description come after reports that the Al-Hilli family changed campsites two days before the tragedy due to unknown fears for the family’s safety.

Zainab has been recovering in hospital after waking from a medically-induced coma. It is believed she was beaten because the gunman had run out of bullets after shooting her in the shoulder.

Similar stories:

Police find “items of concern” at French Alps shooting victim Saad al-Hilli family home
French Alps, one daughter is in critical condition and another survives
French Alps Shooting: Seven-year-old girl comes out of coma
Police find “items of concern” at French Alps shooting victim Saad al-Hilli family home