French mayor’s wife and child injured in rioters’ attack, believed to be an assassination attempt.

The Shocking Attack on French Mayor’s Family

The wife and child of a conservative French mayor were injured while fleeing their home after it was attacked by rioters in what is being called an assassination attempt.

Vincent Jeanbrun, the mayor of the Parisian suburb of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, with a little over 30,000 residents, was in the town hall Saturday night, which itself had been ravaged by rioters for the previous several nights.

Assault on Their Home

At around 1:30, a group of rioters assaulted his home, attempting to light it on fire by ramming it with a flaming car, Jeanbrun said. His wife and two young children, aged five and seven, were sleeping in the house at the time of the assault. While attempting to flee the residence through the backyard, the group pursued and attacked the family with fireworks, which have been utilized extensively by rioters over the past week.

As a result, one child was injured, and his wife’s leg was broken. Jeanbrun said that doctors estimate his wife will need a period of three months to recover, Reuters reported.

“At 01:30am, as I was in the town hall just like the two previous nights, people ram-raided my home before starting a fire to torch my house, where my wife and my two young children were sleeping,” Jeanbrun said.

“While attempting to shield them and fleeing the attackers, my wife and one of my children got hurt,” he continued.

He described the incident as a “milestone… in horror and ignominy.”

The attack shocked locals and French society alike, with outpourings of sympathy being expressed across the board. Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior and overseas, announced in the aftermath that an attempted murder case had been opened against the assailants.

“My support for @VincentJeanbrun and his family, victim of a cowardly and terrible attack, is total,” he tweeted. “An investigation for attempted murder has been opened and significant resources of the judicial police are mobilized. The perpetrators of these facts will answer for their heinous acts.”

Créteil Public Prosecutor Stephane Hardouin opened an investigation into the incident, classifying it as an “attempted assassination,” France 24 reported. Paris police chief Laurent Nunez promised Jeanbrun and his family “reinforced protection.”

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne traveled to the suburb the following morning in a show of solidarity, where she met with Jeanbrun personally.

“We will let no violence get by” unpunished, she said, urging that the perpetrators of the “particularly shocking” attack be sanctioned with the “utmost severity.”

Aside from being mayor of the town, Jeanbrun also serves as a Member of Parliament and the spokesman for the conservative Les Républicains Party.

So far, no arrests have been made in connection with the attack. The incident appears to be the first targeted assault on an elected official over the course of the days-long riots that have gripped France, following the police killing of a 17-year-old of Algerian descent.

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