In a horrifying escalation of unrest in France, the home of Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of the Paris suburb of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, was ram-raided and set alight while his wife and children slept inside.

The attack, which French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has condemned as “particularly shocking”, occurred amidst widespread civil unrest following the shooting of a teenager by a police officer.

According to reports, Jeanbrun’s wife and one of their two children were injured in the incident as they fled their burning home. The mayor, a member of the conservative Les Républicains party, was at the town hall during the attack. His office has also been targeted in recent nights since the controversial shooting, necessitating protection with barbed wire and barricades.

Jeanbrun communicated the traumatic event on his Twitter account, detailing how his family home was rammed and torched while his wife and children were asleep inside. The mayor revealed that his wife and one child were injured while escaping the attack.

Prime Minister Borne, who visited L’Haÿ-les-Roses following the attack, expressed her strong condemnation of the violence and called for the perpetrators to face severe punishment. In her address, Borne emphasized that no such act of violence would go unpunished.

In a related development, Créteil public prosecutor Stephane Hardouin has opened an investigation into the attack, which he described as an attempted murder.

Early findings from the investigation suggest that the car was used to ram the house and set it on fire, with a flame accelerant found in a bottle in the car. Hardouin confirmed that Jeanbrun’s wife was injured during her escape, though no arrests have been made in connection with the attack thus far.

  Elisabeth Borne, France, L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Paris, Vincent Jeanbrun