Far-right French lawyer guns down boss and kills himself

A far-right sympathising French lawyer shot his boss before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. Joseph Scipilliti, 63, outlined his grievances in a diary published online before the attack.

Scipilliti was attending a disciplinary meeting with his superior, Henrique Vannier, head of the bar in Melun, south of Paris, who was about to suspend him. In an office in the local court building, he shot Vannier in the chest, shoulder and hip, before killing himself, a local prosecutor told AFP. The 43-year-old is in a critical but stable condition at a local hospital.

Scipilliti had sent written threats to Vannier ahead of the incident and in a 240-page diary published online, he declared: "Suicide on its own achieves nothing. A few days later no one will remember. To make people take notice, you must make a big noise."

Scipilliti had previously defended a number of anti-Islam groups, including the Republican Resistance, whose founder organised a sausage and wine event to "counter the Islamic offensive". He had also published articles on the French political website Boulevard Voltaire, Liberation reported.

In the diary, Sipilitti described his health and financial problems, having been declared bankrupt in 2007, and railed about the exclusion of right-wing figures in French society. He said his victim "embodies everything I have fought since the beginning of my career".

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