The True Story of a Cop Killer on Netflix: What News Inspired the Movie Next time I aim for the heart with Guillaume Canet?

2014 saw the release of The Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart, a thriller by Guillaume Canet that recounts the horror stories. For several months between 1978 and 1979, the residents of Oise were plunged into agony and fear: a maniac was on the rampage, targeting young women.

After trying to run over several people while driving his car, he ends up stabbing and killing a random hitchhiker. The man is everywhere and nowhere, avoiding the traps and roadblocks of the investigators.

He escapes more easily, because in reality he is a young and shy gendarme, who lives a banal and trouble-free life in his brigade…

Take a look at the true story that inspired the film.

Game cat and mouse

The title was not chosen by chance. “Next time I will aim for the heart and not the legs– These words were addressed by Alain Lamare, who was nicknamed Ois’s killer, to the police in one of the letters he will send to them.

The first incident occurred on July 23, 1978, when a 17-year-old girl was shot by a mysterious assailant: he shot her three times, causing minor injuries. Despite an investigation and testimony from the victim who described his car, the man has not been found.

Less than a month later, the Central Commissioner of Crail received a strange message: a man claimed to be the author of the attack and made other confessions. Thus, the police managed to establish a connection between this case, the theft of a car in May 1978 (subsequently abandoned) and the second explosion that injured a policeman.

A well thought out modus operandi

Very quickly, the police raised questions, as reported in this Le Monde article from 1979: The man knows very well how they work, as well as the police techniques used to catch him.

When, after an attack on a new victim, which is supposed to last for two hours, the gendarmerie sets up a “surface cover” system (air and ground search), the suspect goes into hiding.

Another detail rings a bell. In his letters to the gendarmerie, he uses (intentionally?) police language. Clermont’s company commander dares to voice his suspicions, but no one around him dares to believe that the culprit is part of the police. and still.

The man they are looking for is Alain Lamar, 23, and a member of the Chantilly Surveillance and Intervention Squad. A position that allows him to participate in research and follow the investigation as closely as possible. Even better, he is regularly the first to arrive at a crime scene.

A well-thought-out pattern quickly emerges: a stolen car, an attack, then an abandoned and explosive-laden car… Lamare is intelligent, meticulous, and careful to leave behind no clues or false leads.

He has fun and makes fun of the police when he can. Experts establish a psychological profile: they say that the criminal hates the gendarmerie, women and has homosexual tendencies.

The loop tightens

The man is terrifying and becomes more and more threatening in his letters. He attacks the two new women with a pistol. Each creates a portrait of the robot that allows investigators to refine their research. In December 1978, Lamar followed through on his threat (“Next time I’ll aim for the heart”) and kills a 19-year-old hitchhiker.

The weapon used, Beretta 9mm, belonged to a colleague of Masese. He does it again at the end of the month. On the 29th, he took young Andrei to the car, then threatened him, but he managed to escape: he shot him several times. One of the bullets penetrates his spine, leaving him permanently paralyzed. His robot portrait will be crucial in capturing the gendarme.

Because several people around him start asking questions. Especially one of his former bosses who recognizes Lamar’s style in his letters. The graphological analysis (which compares the writings), the portrait of the robot and the fact that he was never in office on the days when the crime took place, led them to call the gendarme.

Feeling the tightening of the noose around him, he goes there with a hidden pistol. But he was quickly surrounded and handcuffed.

It’s recognition time

Lamar admits. A search of the house and fingerprints found at the crime scene closed the case. But it remains to be seen why this policeman turned into a serial killer…

Three years later, the former gendarme was irresponsibly convicted of his actions by psychiatrists, who considered him schizophrenic. He is sent to a psychiatric hospital, thereby avoiding the trial.

Next time I’ll Aim for the Heart is available on Netflix.