A baby was killed and several more people seriously injured when a family of 11 threw itself from a third-floor apartment to flee a man they mistook for the devil, French investigators have said. The bizarre tragedy came to light on Saturday when firefighters were called to the village of La Verriere on the outskirts of Paris following reports that several people jumped from a balcony in a social housing block.
Among the injured, they found an entirely naked man of African origin with a knife wound in his hand and two children, a baby and a two-year-old girl. The baby died despite receiving hospital treatment in Paris. Odile Faivre, the assistant prosecutor from Versailles, said the incident began in the early hours when a group of 13 people were watching television in an apartment, and the naked man heard the baby cry.
"The man got up to prepare a bottle for the baby when his wife, seeing him, screamed 'It's the devil. It's the devil,'" she said. In the confusion following the apparent case of mistaken identity, the naked man's sister-in-law stabbed him in the hand, and he was ejected through the front door of the apartment. When he attempted to get back in, panic erupted.
"The other occupants of the flat fled by jumping out of the window," Ms Faivre said. According to police, one man jumped with the two-year-old in his arms and crawled two blocks away to hide in bushes, screaming, "I had to defend myself." Investigators found no trace of hallucinogenic substances in the apartment and no evidence that any occult ritual took place. Seven of those who jumped were taken to the hospital, some with multiple injuries. "A number of points remain to be cleared up," Ms Faivre said
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