An unemployed French engineer has gone on trial accused of shooting dead three women he blamed for his failure to find a job, reports The Guardian.
Gabriel Fortin, 48, allegedly killed two human resources directors and a jobs centre employee, and attempted to kill another worker, after a string of dismissals.
“These are lies,” Fortin told the courthouse in the city of Valence, south-east France, after a reading of the summary of facts in the case.
He went on to point fingers at elected officials and magistrates, who he said were “responsible” for his “situation” by not having responded to his numerous complaints regarding being dismissed from jobs in 2006 and 2009.
“I was a victim,” the former engineer said.
Investigators say his unanswered complaints may have fuelled his desire for revenge.
They also claim he meticulously plotted the bloody January 2021 attack. Three of the four victims who were targeted were associated with his being fired from one company and a government agency.