Municipal agent killed in Grenoble: 25-year-old suspect already convicted 19 times

The main suspect in the death of Lilian Dejean, a municipal agent in Grenoble, was arrested on Thursday, November 21 in Portugal. We know more about his profile.

More than two months after the death of Lilian Dejean, the cleaning agent for the city of Grenoble who was shot dead in September, the man suspected of shooting the 49-year-old agent was arrested this thursday 21st november in Portugal.

Abdoul Diallo, aged 25, “was first imprisoned by the juvenile judge in Grenoble at the age of 15”, explained Eric Vaillant, the public prosecutor in Grenoble. He held a press conference on Friday, which was broadcast in particular by BFMTV. The suspect already has 19 convictions on his criminal record, including “for acts of violence” and drug trafficking. Over the past ten years, the suspect has been sentenced to six years in prison, he added.

A “relief” for the victim's relatives

What happened on September 8th? ? Shortly after 7am, an Audi violently crashed into a Peugeot 2008 in front of Grenoble City Hall. Lilian Dejean allegedly tried to stop the reckless driver from fleeing, but the driver fired two shots at him, hitting him in the chest. The municipal agent died from his injuries a few hours later.

The identity of the suspect was “known since the very day of the murder”, the prosecutor said. Indeed, his identity card had been found in the “vehicle that he himself had crashed” in front of Grenoble City Hall before attacking Lilian Dejean”. His arrest is “a relief” for the victim's relatives, reports Le Dauphiné Libéré. "We've been waiting for this for weeks to be able to move forward in our mourning and get a glimpse of the trial," one of his brothers, Jean-Marc Dejean, told the newspaper.

Currently detained in Portugal, the suspect will be handed over "in the coming weeks" to the investigating judge in Grenoble. She had issued a European arrest warrant against him. Eric Vaillant praised the “very hard work of the police and magistrates”, as well as the “European police and judicial cooperation” that led to this arrest. No fewer than forty investigators from the judicial police of Grenoble, Lyon and Porto were mobilized.