French investigators say the suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of a young woman in western Nice last week is the Portuguese-born stepfather of the victim’s partner, the families of whom originate from Cape Verde.
According to Nice-Matin and BFMTV, the suspect, identified as 45-year-old Octaviano M. V., was arrested less than 72 hours after the killing of Lizabete, who was shot multiple times on Wednesday evening while driving at the junction of Boulevard Napoléon III and Avenue Henri Matisse in the southern French city. She was killed in front of her 7-month-old daughter, who was in the car at the time and escaped unharmed.
The gunman fled the scene on a scooter and was the subject of an intensive manhunt. Police located him after a tip-off received by the Cannes police station led investigators to an apartment he had recently rented nearby.
He was arrested early Saturday afternoon during a special forces operation.
As cited by Nice-Matin, public prosecutor Damien Martinelli said the suspect, who was already subject to two arrest warrants, could not be placed in standard police custody but was ultimately summoned before an investigating judge on Sunday morning, where he refused to answer questions. “The individual arrested yesterday in Grasse has remained silent,” Martinelli said.
NEW:
A young woman was shot dead in her car this evening in Nice while travelling with her young child.
The attack occurred around 6 p.m. while the vehicle was on Avenue Matisse.
This footage shows multiple bullet entries into the driver’s side of the vehicle.
The shooter… pic.twitter.com/dEfeNHv1F3
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The suspect was formally indicted and transferred to prison later on Sunday, where he was placed in pretrial detention. Prosecutors said the motives for the killing remain unclear.
BFMTV reported that investigators are now prioritizing the theory of a family feud, with the arrest confirming that line of inquiry. The suspect had already been taken into custody the previous week in a separate case involving aggravated assault against his partner, the mother of Lizabete’s partner. He was brought before a judge and later released under judicial supervision, with a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting the woman. Authorities have not confirmed whether the two cases are directly linked.
Two other people were arrested and taken into custody on Saturday on suspicion of having helped the main suspect during his escape, including by sheltering him. According to the Nice prosecutor, their custody was lifted later the same day.
The shooting occurred shortly before 6 p.m. on Wednesday, when a man riding a scooter pulled alongside the victim’s car and opened fire with a handgun. Martinelli said the woman was already in cardiac arrest when emergency services arrived. “Their efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful,” he told French media.
Witnesses described scenes of panic following the attack. One resident told Le Parisien, “It was exactly 6 p.m. when we heard gunshots. We went straight outside, called the fire department, and tried to provide first aid for 20 minutes, then we waited for the police to arrive.”
Several witnesses said the victim appeared to have shielded her baby during the shooting. “From what I understand, the woman dove on top of her baby, who was in the passenger seat, to protect him; that’s why she seems to have been shot in the torso,” one witness said. “We immediately got the baby out of the car.”
The scooter believed to have been used in the attack was later found abandoned without license plates near the Nice-Ville train station.
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