The series of attacks started on 23 September 1995, at about 18:00 CET, when Borel killed his stepfather, Yves Bichet, in the kitchen by shooting him four times with an Anschütz .22-caliber rifle, before smashing his head with a hammer.

[3] When his mother lay dead, Borel once again started to clean the house from blood, covered the bodies with sheets and closed all shutters, as well as the steel gate.

Carrying a bag packed with food, money, a raincoat, a map of Limoges, and a pistol shooting rubber bullets,[4][5] and armed with the rifle and pockets full of ammunition, Borel made his way towards Cuers.

[6][2] The bodies of the Borel's murdered family were found at approximately 01:00 by Yves Bichet's son Jean-Luc, a student living in Antibes who only occasionally visited his father on weekends.

First Borel shot at Ginette Vialette through an open window, mortally wounding her, as well as Denise Otto, whom he killed as she was bringing the trash out.

Subsequently, Borel injured an elderly woman who was walking in the streets with her husband and shot and wounded two brothers who were crossing his path.

Borel crossed the street to shoot and kill shopkeeper Mario Pagani, who was out buying a newspaper, with shots in the abdomen and head, as well as Mohammed Maarad in front of the "Café du Commerce".

[12] Borel's shooting spree was the deadliest act of mass murder in France since Christian Dornier killed fourteen people in Luxiol on 12 July 1989.

When his mother, who had visited Borel only occasionally up to that time, began to live with Yves Bichet, she again took care of her son and brought him to their home in Solliès-Pont.

He told lies about the heroic deeds of his father during the Indochina War and adored his stepbrother Franck Bichet, who served in the army.

[2] Many reports erroneously stated that Borel's room was full of Nazi paraphernalia, and rumors he was fascist sympathizer were spurred even more by the fact that his stepfather had attended several meetings of the Front National in 1989.

He also had a picture of Adolf Hitler cut out from a newspaper, graffiti displaying a hooked cross on his door, a few books on World War II, as well as a documentary about the Waco siege.