Shots fired as French crypto owner wrests handgun from armed thief

In the early hours of April 11, a family in the leafy Terral neighbourhood of Saint-Jean-de-Védas, a quiet suburb of Montpellier, is going about its normal routine when the doorbell rings.

It’s a delivery driver who says he has a package to drop off.

But instead of dropping off a parcel after the door opens, the driver suddenly pulls a surgical mask over his face and brandishes a handgun — demanding that the father, a 40-year-old crypto industry worker, hand over the keys to his crypto wallet.

The attempted robbery is just the latest in a string of over 40 attempted crypto robbery and kidnapping attacks reported this year, according to French media outlets Actu and Midi Libre.

What’s more, overseas masterminds are commissioning the attacks after identifying crypto-owning individuals on social media, French detectives wrote in a leaked police memo earlier this year.

A loaded gun

Police haven't revealed the identity of the 40-year-old man, noting that their investigation is still ongoing. Sources told the media outlets the man works for a firm that provides services related to crypto transactions.

After gaining access to the house, the attacker, dressed in the uniform of a major delivery firm, forced the man, his wife, and their young children into the living room.

Pointing the gun at the man and his family, the attacker demanded that the man reveal his private keys.

However, the man’s answers confused the attacker, prompting the latter to begin a mobile phone conversation with a suspected acquaintance.

Noticing that the attacker had suffered a momentary lapse in attention, the man reportedly jumped on the suspect in an attempt to seize the gun.

A struggle ensued before a shot was fired, and the man managed to prise the weapon from the attacker’s grip.

No one was harmed, police said, but the attacker managed to flee the scene.

Three-day manhunt

The family and their neighbours called the police, with units from Montpellier, Castelnau-le-Lez, and Hérault rushing to the scene.

After a three-day manhunt, police found the suspect, an unnamed 25-year-old male from Hérault.

A Montpellier court has charged the man with attempted armed robbery and remanded him in custody in a prison in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.

Detectives and prosecutors said it was “possible” that the suspect had acted upon the orders of an unnamed kingpin.

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].