Laurent Nuñez’s statement regarding the stability, or even decrease, of deaths by police and gendarmerie gunfire needs to be qualified by the specific force involved. Gendarmerie data is relatively stable, while police data fluctuates significantly from year to year. A broader count includes deaths occurring during law enforcement interventions, regardless of the cause.
A statement made after a mobilization
On Sunday, September 20, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against a proposed law on the presumption of legitimate use of weapons by law enforcement. The following day, on BFM TV, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez disputed the claim that deaths by firearms attributable to police officers and gendarmes had increased sharply.
However, the available figures suggest a more nuanced view. They do not depict a uniform trend for both forces, and the annual police series vary considerably.
More consistent figures for the gendarmerie
According to the General Inspectorate of the National Gendarmerie (IGGN), gendarmerie shootings generally result in seven or eight deaths per year. The number is fairly stable, although there are variations: two people were killed in 2019, compared to twelve in 2024.
The trend is less consistent on the police side. The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) has been publishing figures on fatal shootings since 2017. In that first year, 14 people were killed in the six months of data collection. The figures covered the Gironde and Yvelines departments; the IGPN nevertheless described them as « virtually exhaustive. » In 2018, the annual toll stood at 15 deaths.
After years in which the number remained below ten, the figures have once again fluctuated considerably: 22 deaths in 2022, seven in 2023, and 16 in 2024. Figures published on September 23 for 2025 indicate 12 people killed by police gunfire. This result is lower than that of 2024 and slightly below the annual average of 12.5 since 2017. However, these variations alone are insufficient to conclude that there is a sustained downward trend.
A wider counting perimeter
The debate also concerns deaths that do not necessarily result from gunfire. On September 19, Manon Aubry, a Member of the European Parliament for La France Insoumise, cited the figure of 562 people who died during police interventions over the past twenty years. She based her figure on data compiled by the media outlet Basta, which includes various types of situations: refusal to comply with police orders, checks, detentions, fainting spells or cardiac arrests, as well as the use of lethal or non-lethal weapons.
This tally, which is broader than that of fatal shootings, reaches approximately 600 deaths over twenty years, not counting the perpetrators of terrorist attacks. According to data presented by franceinfo, the annual number has risen from around ten deaths during interventions in 2005 to around fifty in recent years. These figures therefore cannot be directly compared to the death tolls of people killed by gunfire alone.
Source: franceinfo – True or False (www.franceinfo.fr)
Original article: See the original source
Author: franceinfo
