Paris: 'Gun shot' causes panic at Elysée Palace
Oliver Gee - [email protected]
Published: 20 Apr, 2015 CET.
Updated: Mon 20 Apr 2015 11:42 CET
There was panic, confusion and one very red-faced security guard at France's presidential palace last week, when a gunshot was reportedly fired on the ground floor.
An advisor to President François Hollande made a panicked call last week to say the Elysée Palace was under attack after hearing a gun shot in the building.
In the end it proved to be a false alarm with the gun shot fired by accident by one of the palace's security guards.
While no one was hurt and the president wasn't in the Elysée at the time, the stray bullet still caused quite the commotion, reported French newspaper Le Point.
Panic spread after the guard fired a bullet from his Glock 26 directly into an inside wall of the official residence.
One floor up, the president's advisors figured the building may have been under attack and immediately contacted the special police unit in charge of guarding the building.
After calm was quickly restored and the panic subsided, it is then alleged the security team tried to cover up the potentially lethal mishap by cleaning up the mess and removing the bullet from the wall, without filing an accident report.
The shot was labelled as an accidental misfire.
After the news leaked on Sunday, several French papers took the chance to question the safety of President Francois Hollande considering the fact his security team can manage to fire a weapon accidentally.
Le Point said the incident "showed the shortcomings of the security service".
(Le Point's exclusive story. Photo: Screenshot)
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An advisor to President François Hollande made a panicked call last week to say the Elysée Palace was under attack after hearing a gun shot in the building.
In the end it proved to be a false alarm with the gun shot fired by accident by one of the palace's security guards.
While no one was hurt and the president wasn't in the Elysée at the time, the stray bullet still caused quite the commotion, reported French newspaper Le Point.
Panic spread after the guard fired a bullet from his Glock 26 directly into an inside wall of the official residence.
One floor up, the president's advisors figured the building may have been under attack and immediately contacted the special police unit in charge of guarding the building.
After calm was quickly restored and the panic subsided, it is then alleged the security team tried to cover up the potentially lethal mishap by cleaning up the mess and removing the bullet from the wall, without filing an accident report.
The shot was labelled as an accidental misfire.
After the news leaked on Sunday, several French papers took the chance to question the safety of President Francois Hollande considering the fact his security team can manage to fire a weapon accidentally.
Le Point said the incident "showed the shortcomings of the security service".
(Le Point's exclusive story. Photo: Screenshot)
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