French pest controller shoots wife, says he mistook her for a rat

In France, a pest controller shot his wife in the head while on the job and claims he mistook her for a rat. The incident happened on Saturday evening in a food-storage cold warehouse in Bondoufle, on the southern outskirts of Paris.

The couple, both rodent-control professionals, had come out on a call and were planning to use a less common “sanitary shooting method”: culling with an air gun. According to the man, he heard sounds in the dark that he took for rats, fired, and hit his wife with a lead pellet between the eyes.

At around 10 p.m., the shooter himself called the emergency number. “He allegedly mistook her for a rodent,” Le Parisien writes, citing sources close to the investigation. Investigators, according to Le Matin, treat his words with distrust and are considering the possibility that the shot may have been deliberate.

The woman was taken to a military hospital, and doctors describe her prognosis as “uncertain.” On the instruction of the prosecutor’s office, police opened a criminal case against the pest controller on suspicion of attempted murder. The man is in custody.

Social media users are mostly skeptical of his explanation: some call it a “rather stupid excuse,” others a bad joke. “I hope the court explains the difference to him,” another commenter wrote.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz