French Alps Killings: Brother of Victim Denies Financial Dispute - East Idaho News
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French Alps Killings: Brother of Victim Denies Financial Dispute

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Getty 090712 SwissAlps?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1347053736848Top Photo Group/Thinkstock(PARIS) — Although authorities in France believe a family dispute about money might have led to the killing of four people and the shooting of a 7-year-old girl in the French Alps, a French prosecutor said the brother of one of the victims has denied any conflict with him over “financial matters.”

Investigators Friday questioned the brother of 50-year-old Saad al-Hilli, who was found gunned down in a car near Lake Annecy in Haute-Savoie, France, Wednesday. His wife, Iqbal, and a woman believed to be her mother were also found shot dead, as was a cyclist who happened upon the bloody scene.

“He [al-Hilli’s brother] turned up again this morning and he said ‘No, I don’t have a conflict with my brother,'” prosecutor Eric Maillaud said at a news conference Friday in Annecy, France.

French investigators had come to the United Kingdom to speak with Al-Hilli’s brother, who also spoke with British police Thursday after learning of the deaths through the media, Maillaud said. British police are now directly involved in the investigation.

The BBC reported Friday that tension with al-Hilli’s brother, whom officials have not named, was brewing over two properties in Spain and suburban London. The house in Surrey, England, which had apparently been in their mother’s name, was left to Saad.

Meanwhile, Al-Hilli’s daughter Zainab, 7, is in a medically induced coma in Grenoble University Hospital after being shot in the head three times and badly beaten. The couple’s daughter Zeena, 4, was found hiding underneath her mother’s corpse inside the backseat of the family’s BMW by a British cyclist.

Zeena has now also spoken to police about the attack, Maillaud said. The girl told investigators that she did not see anything because she “dived under her mother’s legs” when the first shots rang out, he added.

Maillaud told AFP news agency earlier Friday that officials believed a dispute between the two brothers led to the massacre in which all victims were shot in the head and about 25 bullets were fired.

“It seems that there was a dispute between the two brothers about money,” prosecutor Eric Maillaud said. “This seems to be credible information coming from the British police. The brother will have to be questioned at length. Every lead will be meticulously followed.”

The fourth victim was a cyclist identified by French media as Sylvain Mollier, a father of three from Ugine en Savoie, who also suffered gunshot wounds and was found dead close to the car.

Zeena was questioned by investigators Thursday night, but was unable to provide further help, Maillaud, the public prosecutor for Annecy, told AFP. Both girls are under police protection in the hospital.

Saad al-Hilli was reportedly a resident of Claygate in the London-suburb of Surrey and the secretary of a Wiltshire-based aerial photography company, AMS 1087. The Surrey police are working with French authorities to assist the investigation.

Police believe the shooter used an automatic pistol, which is banned in France.

Another British cyclist who came upon the scene, who is an ex-RAF officer, is the main witness. He had been passed by another cyclist on the climb that leads to the parking lot where the shooting took place.

Police said that he found the BMW with the engine still running, and saw Zainab walking near the car, about to faint. He then discovered the other cyclist, who had passed him earlier, dead on the road.

After alerting firefighters at about 5 p.m., the witness broke the driver’s window and saw the bodies inside, one of which covered little Zeena. The cyclist then placed Zainab in recovery position, the BBC reported, adding that police say he effectively saved her life.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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