Enraged After Losing Fortnite, Man Killed Random Girl Just To 'Calm Down'

Death is inevitable—no one can outrun it. The only questions are when it will come and how it will take them.

Some pass away peacefully in old age, while others fall to illness, or accidents. Some give their lives for a cause they believe in, while others perish without reason or warning.

The worse are those who die by unforeseen tragedies, like crime. Others die by suicide.

But the most tragic are those murdered at random.

In Longjumeau, south of Paris, 11-year-old Louise Lasalle was tragically murdered by a man who was consumed with rage after losing a game of Fortnite.

Her misfortune was crossing paths with the deranged man at the wrong time.

On February 7, in the quiet town of Épinay-Sur-Orge—located in Essonne, about a dozen kilometers from the capital of France, 23-year-old Owen L. was playing Fortnite, a game from the Epic Games, and lost.

That day, the young Louise just finished her school at 1:50 pm.

From the André-Maurois secondary school in neighboring Épinay-Sur-Orge, it normally takes her around 10 minutes of walking to get home.

But that day, Louise didn't come home, and that her mother began to notice this a while later.

The worried mother called the emergency services, before going to to the Savigny-sur-Orge police station at 4 p.m..

With a description of a girl with "a large white bandage on her chin" wearing "a purple backpack with a butterfly on it and a navy blue coat," CCTV images how how the child was walking alone before she disappeared.

In the evening, fearing for the worse, the police began the search.

Helped by the gendarmerie and firefighters, they focused on the wooded Parc des Templiers, which is the location nearest to André Maurois college, the place where she was last seen.

The search continued through the night, aided with drones and thermal imaging.

And this was when their fear came to realization.

Around 2.30 a.m. on February 8th, the child's body was located just a few hundred meters from her home.

Investigators found her body around 2:30 a.m., thanks to a firefighter dog.

“He was very angry after an argument with another gamer,” said prosecutor Gregoire Dulin, who also said that Owen L was known to throw tantrums when losing video games.

"While playing Fortnite, he had an altercation online with another player who insulted him," said prosecutor Grégoire Dulin.

"Very angry, he stopped playing and went out to calm down."

But Owen's method of calming down allegedly involved grabbing a knife and "intending to mug or rob someone," Dulin continued.

"He met Louise, whom he did not know, by chance. He spotted her [cell phone], which she was carrying on a cord around her neck (a lanyard to hold her phone), and decided to follow her," the prosecutor continued.

Unfortunately for Louise, her usual route home was through the forest area, the Bas-Follet trail, which was kind of secluded. This was taken advantage by Owen.

"When they reached a quiet spot, he told her he was going to search her things to steal money, while threatening her with a knife."

This was when Louise did what Owen didn't expect her to do.

"She started screaming. Panicked, he pushed her to the ground and stabbed her," the prosecutor explained.

In other words, she was randomly chosen to mugged, but she was murdered because Owen was also panicked.

An autopsy on Louise's body revealed that she was "hit more than 10 times by an object that could have been a knife," particularly in vital areas like the neck, which led to her death.

Investigators ruled out sexual assault.

However, investigators found another individual's DNA elsewhere on her body" her hands.

This led to Owen's arrest.

Suspected, he denied any involvement, despite investigators found that he had scratches and cuts on his hands.

But upon learning about the DNA evidence, he finally confessed.

The unemployed Owen is said to live with a well-off family but had a police record for petty crimes. Before this, he was reported to the police by his own 19-year-old sister for allegedly beating her.

In her report, she described her brother as "violent," "nervous" and "aggressive."

It's said that the sister hadn't spoken to the suspect since she filed the complaint against him.

Described as a video game addict, the computer science student lived with his 49-year-old father who is a senior bank executive and his mother who works as a HR manager.

According to reports, Owen's girlfriend, Laurianne B., is also changed because she knew what happened, but failed to report the crime.

Owen allegedly told her that he had "done something serious" after returning home following the murder, before spraying his clothes and knife with bleach and throwing them away.

Former Prime Minister of France, Élisabeth Borne, presented her condolences on X to Louise's family as well as to "her classmates and teachers."