Police officer arrested in Casablanca shooting probe

CASABLANCA - A police officer, who is suspected of killing two people in the economic capital of Casablanca on the night of Saturday to Sunday, was arrested on Tuesday in the northern Moroccan coastal village of Cabo Negro, revealed the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) after a video of the scene emerged on social media.

The main suspect was arrested on the basis of the results of investigations that followed his involvement in serious professional and legal overruns during the use of his service weapon, and after the decision of the DGSN to suspend him from his functions while waiting to bring him to justice, said the police body in a statement.

He was taken into custody along with six other individuals suspected of direct complicity in this case, or for having deceived justice and insulting the judicial police by providing false information about the circumstances of the case, it said.

Contradictory versions had emerged after the deadly shooting that killed a 35-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman and shook Moroccans on social networks.

The DGSN quickly announced the opening of a judicial to determine the circumstances that led a police officer to use his service weapon during an intervention which caused the death of two individuals.

At that time, the first elements of the probe by the DGSN reported that a senior police inspector of the investigative brigade reporting to the Anfa Police District intervened to challenge four people drunk, two girls and two young men, allegedly involved in criminal activities and a possession of a knife.

“Faced with fierce resistance from the defendants, the policeman was forced to use his service weapon, firing two bullets that have mortally wounded a young man and a girl among the implicated," said the initial statement.

But this version of events has since been overshadowed by a video, widely shared on social networks, and presented as the video of the scene, which was behind the suspected police officer’s immediate suspension, prompting his escape to Cabo Negro.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the two victims and the police officer entered into litigation before the tragedy.