Florence Rey (, born August 27, 1975) and her boyfriend Audry Maupin (, born April 20, 1972) were involved in a shoot-out in central
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
on October 4, 1994, following a high speed car chase. The incident dramatically involved
homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
, hostage-taking and violent
robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...
all in the space of 25 minutes. The incident caused the deaths of five people; three policemen, a taxi driver, and Maupin. It was a major case in France and received much attention from the media.
Background
Florence Rey, the daughter of a schoolteacher, was a 19-year-old student. After dropping out of medicine school, she studied literature. Audry Maupin, 22, was a philosophy sophomore at the University of
Nanterre
Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807.
The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...
. At the time of the incident they were living together in a squat in an abandoned bourgeoise house in Nanterre. The pair were already under observation by the
Renseignements Généraux, the French intelligence services, prior to the incident due to their involvement with an underground political group. When the police searched their squat after the killings, they found revolutionary and anarchist literature, such as ''
The Society of the Spectacle
''The Society of the Spectacle'' () is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord where he develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle (critical theory), Spectacle. The book is considered a seminal text for the Si ...
'' by
Guy Debord
Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situat ...
. They found the couple's writings, which echoed
surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
,
radicalism and
situationism.
Details of incident
The incident began at 9:25 pm on October 4, 1994, at the Porte de Pantin car pound. The pair climbed the perimeter fence with the intention of stealing the service firearms of the two policemen on night duty inside and neutralizing them with their own handcuffs. They discovered that the two officers did not carry handcuffs so they sprayed them with tear gas before making their escape. Outside they boarded a taxi waiting at a red light driven by a taxi driver named Amadou Dialoo. A passenger, Georges Monnier, was already on board and they threatened them with their arms, ordering the driver to drive to the
Place de la Nation
The Place de la Nation (; formerly the Place du Trône , subsequently the Place du Trône-Renversé during the French Revolution) is a circle on the eastern side of Paris, between the Place de la Bastille and the Bois de Vincennes, on the bo ...
.
Ten minutes after hijacking the taxi, having reached the edge of Place de la Nation, Dialoo noticed a police patrol car with three officers returning to their base in the 11th arrondissement after finishing their duty. Dialoo decided to provoke an accident, ran a red light and slammed into the patrol car. The three officers jumped out and Rey and Maupin opened fire, killing two of them, Laurent Gerard and Thierry Memard. The third policeman continued the gunfight while wounded. During the gunfight Maupin fatally shot Dialoo but Monnier had escaped from the taxi and was lying on the ground.
The couple then hijacked a
Renault
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...
Supercinq driven by Jacky Bensimon and ordered him to drive to the
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes (), located on the eastern edge of Paris, France, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by Emperor Napoleon III.
The park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of ...
. A chase began and Maupin fired through the rear window of the Renault causing a motorcycle patrolman to be lightly injured hitting the ground. On arrival at
Vincennes
Vincennes (; ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...
, there was a road block so Maupin ordered Bensimon not to stop or he would kill him. 100 metres before the road block Bensimon pulled the hand brake which caused the car to spin three times. Bensimon was thrown out which probably saved his life. A motorcycle policeman, Guy Jacob, approached on foot and was fatally shot by Maupin. The police opened fire on the Renault, fatally wounding Maupin who died at 10pm the following evening at the
Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital. Before being arrested, Florence Rey kissed Maupin without showing any emotion then refused to discuss the incident throughout her interrogation.
Trial in 1998
Rey was held on remand at the Maison d'Arrêt des Femmes at Fleury Merogis while awaiting trial, where she spent her time reading and doing drama. She never discussed the incident with anyone, including her lawyers. Her trial began on September 17, 1998, at the Assise Court in the
Palais de Justice, Paris. She was defended by two lawyers, Maître Olivia Cligman and Maître Henri Leclerc. Throughout her trial, she continued to
show no emotion and Maître Cligman even rebuked her in court for her indifference.
Ten witnesses were called, but they all gave different versions of the event. The decision as to if she was a murderer or an accomplice rested on ballistic evidence which proved that Maupin fired all of the fatal shots.
The violence and the outrage provoked some to demand the return of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
in France.
On September 30, 1998, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence Rey to 30 years. After her lawyers had delivered their plea, she was given the final opportunity to speak but she chose to remain silent. After five hours of deliberation the jury found her guilty as an accomplice and she was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. She served her sentence in the Maison d'Arrêt des Femmes in
Rennes
Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...
.
Abdelhakim Dekhar, who was accused of having supplied a gun to the couple, was sentenced to four years in prison but was released soon after, having already served much of his time before the verdict.
[Paris gun suspect Dekhar 'wrote confused letters]
BBC. 21 November 2013
Aftermath
Rey became an icon of the counterculture. For example, the writer
Patrick Besson wrote "Sonnet pour Florence Rey", and the band
The Kills
The Kills are an English-American rock music, rock duo formed by American singer Alison Mosshart, Alison "VV" Mosshart and English guitarist Jamie Hince, Jamie "Hotel" Hince. They are signed to Domino Recording Company, Domino Records. Their fi ...
also wrote a song dedicated to her. The anarchist rock group
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba () was a British anarcho-punk band who formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1998. Other singles include "Amnes ...
dedicated their song "Stitch That" to Florence Rey at live performances shortly after the incident. Artist
Chantal Montellier wrote and illustrated a comic book, ''
Les Damnés de Nanterre'', to dispute the official account of the event. Rey has refused to give interviews.
After benefiting from a remission of her sentence, Rey was discreetly released on May 3, 2009. During her incarceration, she had received frequent visits from her mother and studied history and geography. She had also worked as a waitress in the prison refectory.
On November 20, 2013, Dekhar was arrested as a suspect in the
Paris attacks, where local branches of the bank
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
were attacked as well as the newspaper ''
Libération
(), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
'', where a photography assistant was shot and severely injured.
References
*
Andrew Hussey, ''The Game Of War: The Life And Death Of Guy Debord'' (2001)
* ''Shootout'', Documentary (2002)
BFI Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rey, Florence
Autonomism
Mass murder in 1994
Prisoners and detainees of France
20th-century mass murder in France
October 1994 in France
October 1994 crimes
Mass murder in Paris
Robberies in France
Hijackings in the 1990s
Hijackings in Europe
1994 in Paris
1990s murders in Paris
Vehicle-ramming attacks in France
1994 murders in France
1990s vehicle-ramming attacks
Spree shootings in France
1994 mass shootings in Europe
Hostage taking in France
Murder trials in France
1990s trials
1994 road incidents
1990s road incidents in France
Shootouts
Criminal duos