Deaths of Adam and Raihane: inconsistencies in the police account exposed
Published on
In August 2022 in Vénissieux, two young men were shot dead by police firing at a vehicle reported stolen. The officers claimed self-defence: one of them said he fired five times while on the bonnet of the fleeing vehicle. Backed by a 3D reconstruction, Index’s counter-investigation reveals the flaws in this account.
- Incident date
- Location
- Vénissieux (France)
- Victim(s)
- Adam B. (20 y.o.)
Rahiane S. (26 y.o.) - Consequence(s)
- Death
- Force(s) involved
- National Police
- Methods employed
- Firearm
- Theme(s)
- Partner(s)
- Blast
On the night of 18 to 19 August 2022, a police operation in the car park of the Carrefour hypermarket in Vénissieux left two people dead. Adam B., aged 20, and Raihane S., aged 25, were killed by shots from a semi-automatic pistol while sitting in a Renault Mégane that had been reported stolen.
The investigation determined that both men were killed by bullets from the same weapon, belonging to police officer Geoffray D., the patrol leader of a Brigade Spécialisée de Terrain (BST) crew, a specialised National Police field unit assigned to Vénissieux. In total, eleven bullets struck the vehicle in which Adam and Raihane were sitting.
The officers justified the shots as self-defence, in the face of a driver who refused to stop for the police (refus d’obtempérer) and put them in serious danger. According to their account, officer Geoffray D. was hit by the fleeing vehicle and fired while on its bonnet, saying he had “no other option”. The court-appointed ballistics expert concluded that the officers’ scenario was “perfectly consistent” with the physical evidence. Prosecutors dropped the case.
Index conducted a counter-investigation based on a digital 3D reconstruction of the incident. It shows how implausible the police account of Adam B.’s and Raihane S.’s deaths is, and points to numerous grey areas the official inquiry has so far ignored.
Adam B. and Raihane S. are two of the thirteen people shot dead by police firing at moving vehicles in 2022, in so-called “refusal to stop” situations.