A 93-year-old disabled woman, who neighbors described as “the little grandmother of the neighborhood,” was found dead inside her small house in Toulouse on Sunday afternoon. Inside the home, police arrested a naked Sudanese illegal migrant in his 30s, according to French media reports.
Neighbors in the Minimes district, behind the Cité Bourbaki housing complex, called police after hearing prolonged screams and insults coming from the house of the woman, identified by local media as Juliette.
Officers arrived about 5:00 p.m. Sunday and found her body inside. The Sudanese migrant was subsequently removed from the residence, with neighbors telling the press that he was naked and fighting with officers as they tried to restrain him.
One officer was injured in the shoulder, according to accounts given to La Dépêche du Midi and confirmed by the Toulouse prosecutor.
Toulouse prosecutor David Charmatz said the suspect was “in an altered state,” according to witnesses at the scene, and that police subdued him only with difficulty.
A homicide investigation was opened. Charmatz’s office sent a duty magistrate to the scene to oversee detectives and speak with family members who arrived later in the evening.
Police technicians and investigators from the organized and specialized crime division remained at the house for hours. Additional charges could be added as the inquiry proceeds, local reporting said. The precise cause and circumstances of the woman’s death had not been publicly detailed Monday.
Residents described Juliette as a longtime fixture of the street.
“She was the little grandmother of the neighborhood,” one neighbor told La Dépêche, still in shock.
A man in his 30s who lives next door said, “It’s awful. She saw me being born. We used to do her shopping.”
A frightened resident who called emergency services said the shouting “kept going” and that she did not immediately understand where it was coming from.
The suspect remained in custody Monday.
