British family shot dead in France

[efq]

I am a bit shocked that I haven't seen a thread on this? Unless I am blind

http://news.sky.com/story/983064/alp...at-family-home

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A bomb disposal unit has arrived at the house of a British family found shot dead in the French Alps.

Police have cordoned off two roads outside Saad al Hilli's home in Claygate, Surrey, due to "concerns" about items found in the house.
Aerial pictures showed the Royal Logistic Corps bomb squad's investigation appears to be focused on a workshop at the bottom of the garden.

Sky's Ashish Joshi, at the scene, said a Perspex sheet has also been put up outside the front door of the large, mock-Tudor property.
Surrey Police said in a statement: "We can confirm that due to concerns around items found at the address ... officers have extended the cordon surrounding the property.
"Neighbours in the immediate area are being temporarily evacuated."

Meanwhile, the elderly woman shot dead in the mystery gun attack in France was the maternal grandmother, French police have confirmed.

The unnamed Swedish woman was found dead in Mr al Hilli's bullet-riddled BMW in Chevaline, near Lake Annecy, on Wednesday afternoon. Next to her in the back was the body of her 47-year-old daughter Iqbal.

Slumped over the front wheel was 50-year-old Mr al Hilli. His two daughters, who go to school in Claygate, survived the attack.
Sylvain Mollier, 45, a French cyclist who apparently stumbled across the bloodshed, was also shot dead.

Police had been struggling to identify the elderly woman, and could only confirm she held a Swedish passport.
But local prosecutor Eric Maillaud confirmed today: "Evidence gathered in Britain has enabled us to establish that the woman was the maternal grandmother."

Officers are waiting to question her seven-year-old granddaughter Zainab, seen as the key witness to the shooting.

She was beaten around the head and shot in the shoulder. She remains heavily sedated in a French hospital after being brought out of a medically-induced coma on Sunday.

Mr Maillaud said: "The little girl has come out of the artificial coma but she is under sedation and her speech is not yet audible. She is in a better state of health now."

But even as she emerged from the coma, it was clear it could be some time before she could be interviewed.
"It is out of the question to go and interview her in any sort of rushed way. She is extremely traumatised. Only the doctors have the ability to say (when she can be interviewed) and until I get the green light I will do nothing," he added.
Her younger sister, four-year-old Zeena, has returned to the UK. She hid under her mother's body and was unhurt in the attack.

Swiss and Italian police are helping in the murder hunt.
Police officer Benoit Vinneman told reporters the crime scene is being re-examined, and it would be wrong to focus on the theory of an "ordered execution"
"Is this the work of a crazy person? Was the family the real target? Only work based on complete information can help us to see things clearly," he said.

A French builder, thought to be one of the last people to see the British family alive, said they had arrived at the isolated car park at least an hour before they were killed.
Laurent Fillion-Robin, 38, also said there was no sign of any vehicle following their red BMW and he did not hear any shots.
Two mobile phones discovered in the car are being examined by detectives.

A close friend of Mr al Hilli told Sky that the father of two had been worried about security and had hid important documents before he left for France on holiday.

Officers first entered Mr al Hilli's home on Saturday after a team of four French investigators arrived in the UK.
Detectives are looking into the Iraqi-born computer engineer's professional life for possible clues. He worked as a contractor for a satellite technology company in Surrey.
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It's shocking and disgusting but something is definitely fishy about the man who was shot dead. It was a very professional hit and they think there is some bomb type material at the house in the UK. So it's going to be an interesting story.

UPDATES:
All bullets fired came from one weapon.

[Stephen]

******* terrorists I tell you!

[Absently]

I think it's so crazy that they hit the older girl before shooting her, that is absolutely horrible. It's amazing how the younger child was smart enough to crawl underneath her mothers legs, poor thing was stuck there for ages I heard that they think it's over some sort of dispute over land, that the father got land and some one else wanted it? I may be completely wrong though.

[Rozi]

ok what I find bizzare is that 25 cartridges were found. subtracting the 2 each that were used on each dead person, we still have 17 cartridges left. To me, that doesn't seem like a professional killing. However, the french police are being so closed about the case, and still have many details they haven't released so there may be far more to this story than they're letting on.

[Matt]

Eugh, this sickens me. I do find it strange that the two girls are still alive though. It's clear that the father was the main target to this ordeal and believe he clearly had something to hide. So he's obviously provoked some nutter prepared to either kill, or get someone else to kill for them. As mentioned before, the bomb incident will be rather interesting.

[efq]

Well I believe they said, they were shot clean in the head, from a distance, so that says sniper?

[Rozi]

Well I believe they said, they were shot clean in the head, from a distance, so that says sniper?

I don't think they said from a distance, but they were all shot in the head twice. Last I heard the french haven't said if the cartridges came from the same gun, or if there was more than one gun so it's possible that it could be a sniper.

[xxMATTGxx]

Something isn't right about this at all. I do wonder what they found in the house that caused a bit of an alarm to get in the bomb disposal unit though. They have now left the scene at the moment. It might be nothing at all as apparently they didn't start putting on protective clothing. The whole shooting thing still seems a bit odd - There has to be a reason on why they killed them.

[efq]

Something isn't right about this at all. I do wonder what they found in the house that caused a bit of an alarm to get in the bomb disposal unit though. They have now left the scene at the moment.

Exactly my thought, and with them being rich, and this just rings alarm bells:

Detectives are looking into the Iraqi-born computer engineer's professional life for possible clues. He worked as a contractor for a satellite technology company in Surrey.

[Rozi]

I also read that there was quite a large inheritance in the family which is said to be a source of conflict between the family.

I also read that a neighbor says he thought the family was being monitered last year. He reported that for a period of time, there was a car that'd sit in his driveways, monitoring the Al Halli family and following their car. supsish or what