Exterminator claims he 'mistook' wife for rat before shooting her in head
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A French exterminator claims he mistook his own wife for a rat and shot her in the head while the couple was on a pest-control job.
The 54-year-old woman was left fighting for her life after the shooting at a refrigerated warehouse in Bondoufle, northern France, on Saturday night, Oct. 24.
Emergency services arrived around 10 p.m. after reports that a woman had been shot, according to The U.S. Sun . She was rushed to hospital with a serious head injury, but her condition deteriorated soon after she arrived, the Daily Express reports.
Police arrested a man at the scene who identified himself as the victim’s husband. He allegedly admitted shooting her while they were working.
‘Mistook her for a rodent’
A source close to the police investigation told French newspaper Le Parisien : “He claims he mistook her for a rodent.”
The couple were both professional exterminators hired to deal with rodents at the food storage facility, according to the U.S. Sun .
They were carrying out a so-called “sanitary culling,” a pest-control operation in which experts use air rifles or shotguns to kill targeted animals. Lead pellets were reportedly used in the shooting.
The man allegedly told investigators he heard a noise in the dark and pulled the trigger, mistakenly hitting his wife. French media reports say the pellet struck her between the eyes.
Police are investigating the incident as attempted homicide.
Other cases of ‘accidental shootings’
Claims of accidental shootings have surfaced in other high-profile cases involving husbands who killed their wives.
In Pennsylvania, Bruno Rocuba initially claimed his wife, Melissa, was accidentally shot in the head in their bedroom in 2013 while he was cleaning his gun, CBS News reports. The case was reopened in 2020 after investigators uncovered conflicting statements, inconsistencies in his account and home security audio capturing an argument shortly before the gunshot. Rocuba was arrested in 2022, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in May 2024 and was sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison.
Former Orange County Superior Court judge Jeffrey Ferguson also claimed his wife, Sheryl, was shot accidentally during a drunken incident. But prosecutors argued the killing was intentional. Ferguson was convicted and sentenced to 35 years to life in prison, according to PEOPLE . Authorities recovered 48 weapons and more than 26,000 rounds of ammunition from the couple’s home.