A Facebook page set up in support of Stephan Turk had attracted more than 55,000 likes by Thursday (12 September) afternoon, a day after the jeweller was placed in custody on suspicion of murder.
Turk, the owner of "La Turquoise" jewellers in the centre of the Riviera city of Nice, was held up at gunpoint by two men wearing motorcycle helmets as he opened his small jewellery shop on Wednesday (11 September) morning.
"Closed circuit video images show he was punched and kicked before being forced to open his safe. One of the robbers then filled a bag with jewels and the pair made off on the same scooter," Nice prosecutor Eric Bedos told AFP.
"As they fled, Turk shot at them three times with a small gun, hitting the 18-year-old sitting on the back of the scooter at least once in the back," Bedos added.
The teenager's dead body was found in an adjacent street while the driver of the scooter got away with the rifle used in the robbery. The dead youth, identified only by his first name, Anthony, had a string of convictions for theft, assault and driving offences.
"It is true that he did a lot of stupid things," his father told local newspaper Nice Matin. "He was a little delinquent, a scooter thief. But he had the face of a child and no child should have to die like that. I'm not defending what my son did, but, there, he has been shot like a pigeon," he added.
Anthony's brother, Yannick, told RMC radio that the jeweller had wanted to "play the cowboy."
"He (Turk) shot in the street and shot my brother in the back. I don't call that legitimate defence," Yannick said.
Among those backing the jeweller, who is expected to learn on Friday (13 September) whether or not he will be formally charged with murder, was Michel Unik, whose brother Thierry was killed in 2011 during a hold-up of the family jewellers in Cannes-la-Bocca, just down the coast from Nice.
Unik said jewellers and other shop owners had been pushed to breaking point as a result of the increasing frequency of armed robberies and a perception that the authorities are too soft on the criminals involved.
"Jewellers are suffering. They are afraid," Unik said. "What has happened in Nice is a settling of scores and there will be others -- we can't let ourselves be stripped clean like this."
French law provides for individuals to avoid murder charges if they are shown to have killed in self-defence.
However, to invoke the principle of "legitimate defence" the person involved has to show that they had no other option, that they acted at the same time as the threat to them was real, and that their action was proportionate to the threat presented.
None of those criteria appears to have been met in Turk's case, legal experts said.
"Remember that exasperation is not something that can constitute a legitimate defence," tweeted criminal advocate Eric Morain.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
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