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Norbert Falco / Le Dauphine via EPA
Flowers lay at the site where four people died in a shooting at a parking in Chevaline, near Annecy Lake, France, on Sept. 8.
LONDON -- A former British air force pilot who discovered the bodies of four people on a road in the French Alps has told how he slowly realized what he initially thought was an accident was actually a horrific multiple murder and how he could be in serious danger.
Brett Martin was cycling on the road near Lake Annecy on Sept. 5 when he discovered the bodies of Saad al-Hilli, 50, an Iraqi-born engineer, his wife Iqbal, a 47-year-old dentist, and and her mother in a BMW car, along with French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45. Mollier had cycled passed Martin, from Sussex, England, earlier on the road.
In an interview with BBC News, Martin said he feared the shooter might still be nearby, but took actions that were later said by French authorities to have saved the life of the al-Hillis' daughter Zainab, 7, who was shot and beaten in the attack.
Martin told the BBC the first thing he saw as he approached the scene was a bicycle lying on its side and Zainab, who he initially thought was playing. He then realized she had serious head injuries and was covered in blood.
"She was prone on the road, moaning, semi-conscious and she was lying in a position that was in front of this car with its wheels spinning," Martin told the broadcaster. "She was very severely injured because she was in and out of consciousness."
'A lot of blood'
He moved her out of the path the car, which was still going with its wheels spinning, before turning to the cyclist, before quickly deducing he was dead.
Martin then went to switch off the car’s engine and started to wonder if holes in the windows of the car had been made by bullets.
4 slain in French Alps; girl, possible witness, survives
"It became fairly evident that the injuries of the people inside didn't match what one would think people would be like from a car accident," he said.
But it was only when he moved round to the back of the car, that the situation became clear.
Martin said it looked like a scene from a Hollywood movie.
"If somebody had said 'cut' and everybody got up and walked away that would have been it, but unfortunately it was real life,” he told the BBC. "It became quite obvious now, taking stock, that it was a gun crime. Now I was getting a little bit anxious.
"There was a lot of blood and heads with bullet holes in them," he added.
Girl, 4, hid for eight hours in car filled with corpses after mystery shootings in France
'Crazy person in the woods'
Martin then looked around, fearing a "crazy person in the woods" might by firing from a distance with a high-powered rifle.
Despite this danger, he tried to call the emergency number on his cellphone, but was unable to get a signal and had to go for help.
Zainab came out of a medically-induced coma on Sunday and will be questioned by police as soon as she is fit.
7-year-old survivor of French Alps slayings speaks to police
Her four-year-old sister sister Zeena -- who was found hiding in the car hours after the shooting -- also survived. Martin told the BBC that it did not "surprise me in the least" that the girl was not found sooner because she was hidden beneath the bodies of the two women in the car.
Justin Tallis / AFP - Getty Images
British police personnel carry out a search of the front garden at the home of Saad and Iqbal al-Hilli in Claygate, in Surrey, south-east England, Thursday.
French investigators, who said about 25 gun shells had been retrieved from the area, traveled to Britain on Thursday to liaise with British detectives who have been searching the al-Hilli family home in a leafy village in Surrey, south of London.
Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com
French prosecutor Eric Maillaud told reporters at a Surrey police station they believed "in all likelihood the origins, causes and explanations are here in this country."
NBC News' Ian Johnston and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Poor little girls. I hope there is some extended family to take care of them.
Little Zeena is with relatives (and security) back in Great Britiani somewhere. Zainab was so badly beaten on her head by the assailant with the gun- great trauma-broken skull- might loose the eyesight on one of her eyes. For ignorami following statements- Saaed al-Hilli with his brother Zaid and their parents emigrated to Great Britain in 1970- to flee Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. He went to British schools-became an engineer like his father.Hopefully the sisters can overcome the horrors of the Alps Murders together .
The nation that gave us Newton cannot educate enough engineers in order that 4th world hiring recruitment wouldn't be necessary?...what a shame.
You mean that Britons are the only ones capable of being engineers? No one from any other nation should be an engineer?
Pretty stupid statement, dude.
What the heck does that have to do with the fact that people were murdered? How do you know the vic was recruited and so what? 'Doh' is a correct name based on your post.
Actually, what's "stupid" is all of your false conclusions.
Let's take a look, shall we:
Suggesting that a nation, in this case England, educate and hire their own engineers is NOT THE SAME as claiming exclusive province over said profession. Get it?
Further, I encourage peoples of all nations to become engineers, especially in underdeveloped (pseudo)nations such as Iraq...because they sorely need them. And why or how you concluded from my simply stated post that I believed otherwise is rather...well...stupid...dude.
So you're suggesting that England not hire immigrants?
John,Doh
Perhaps a little background reading would have helped with your own statement.
Mr. Saad al-Hilli (the father) came to the UK as a refugee with his parents when he was young, gained British citizenship, went through high school and University in the UK to gain his engineering degree.
So the story is a British citizen educated in Britain and was not recruited from a 4th world country as you seem to be implying.
John, Doh, I knew EXACTLY what you were saying. It never ceases to amaze me how easily people misinterpret something that they didn't read correctly. The headline, IMHO, is misleading because it seems to be fact that at least the husband and children were citizens of England. Journalism just isn't what it used to be!
A very very sad event. Prayers for the little girls and those who passed.
My father always said "put your self in their shoes and think how you would feel before doing something to someone else". If we all did this how could such a thing happen?
Mike, you can't imagine how this could happen because you are most likely a decent human being with a conscience. The killer of this family was probably a hired hit man, a psychopath without a conscience. Such people are unable to put themselves in another's shoes -- that is, to feel sympathy or empathy -- that's how such a thing could happen. I certainly hope they learn who is behind this loathsome act and bring him to justice.
When the headlines first broke about a murder in the French Alps last week something did not sound right with the story. Now as more information becomes available (names/relationships/ages) one can begin to put some sense to the story. Terrorism and Islam are at the root of this tragedy. Go back to your own part of the world and leave the rest of us to enjoy our peaceful existance. We do not seek a holy war or need to change your views through violence. The world is full of this cancer!
Since you are omniscient, how about this Saturday's winning Lotto numbers?
Texas........ - "Go back to your own part of the world..."
I'm guessing quite a few middle easterners, particularly those living in Iraq and Afghanistan, are thinking exactly the same thing.
It's certainly possible, but what makes you say so with such absolute certainty?
Well, not a MUSLIM holy war, but a xtian holy war is just fine, right?
I agree, religious extremism is a cancer, but let's wait and make sure this is religious extremism before we go cutting off anyone's heads, mm'k?
The reporters are going to milk this baby for every last drop. Who cares what he felt.
Until they have any NEW information to report, cutting my toe nails is more exciting.
Codger64 - I tend to agree with you. What the heck does an engineer have to do with the murders of the people. Do you have to be a engineer to figure out the trajectory of the bullet when you fire it? I don't think so. Your simply stated post was - well - duh - stupid - DUDE
Wait a minute...you mean to tell me that all of this transpired in the time that the dead cyclist passed Mr. Matin on the road? Did he stop to take a nap or eat lunch?
It must have been a good distance that Martin was from the scene when Zainab passed him because there was nothing in the article of Martin hearing gunfire. Of course silencers may have been used but I believe they were seperated by a long distance when Zainab was killed. And my experience with well made bicycles is if a wheel is turning after a fall, it takes a mighty long time for it to stop rotating.
It was Jason Bourne. Just ask Treadstone.
Cycling in the Alps is HARD! I can easily imagine many, many bicyclists passing me and 30-40 minutes going by before I caught up to them at a rest stop.
And it was the CAR'S tires that were spinning, not the bike's. The car's engine was running.
well certain parts of the alps are all down hill...buggy roller's like it...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXWK8FE5kuw
No it was the bike, goofball. The car was upright.
Mollier was probably a witness and taken out!!