PARIS, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Three Paris-area police officers committed suicide within hours of each other -- two with guns, a third by hanging himself, authorities said Friday.
One of the officers fatally shot his ex-wife before turning a gun on himself, The Local reported. That 37-year-old officer shot the woman about 9 a.m. Thursday at her home in Chevilly-Larue, south of Paris, after she returned from taking her two children, ages 5 and 7, to school, the newspaper said. He then shot himself in his car, and both died later at different hospitals.
The officer had been separated from his wife three years, The Local said.
A 29-year-old officer who had shot himself was found dead about 8 a.m. Thursday in an unmarked police car in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. Le Parisien reported his suicide was linked to the recent deaths of his father and grandfather, The Local said.
A 36-year-old officer hanged himself about 10 a.m. Thursday at his home in Pre-Saint-Gervais northeast of Paris, The Local said. He was reportedly having "relationship problems."
Sources told the Liberation Thursday was the first time a string of police suicides happened on the same day.
"The stress of our profession can lead men and women to the worst extremes when they find themselves with personal problems," said Nicolas Comte, general secretary of police union Unite-Police SGP-FO.
