French gendarmes blocking access to a road to La Combe d’Ire in Chevaline near Annecy, southeastern France, yesterday. French authorities yesterday formally opened two criminal investigations into the shooting. One investigation is for the pre-meditated murders of the four victims, the other for attempted murder of the two child survivors

A sleepy little French hamlet, dubbed the “end of the world” by one local, remained in shock yesterday after one of the country’s most brutal killings catapulted it to global attention.
Chevaline, home to 200 souls living beside the stunning Lake Annecy in the French Alps, was the sort of place where nothing ever happened.
That tranquil world was jolted when on Wednesday three members of a British-Iraqi family and a passing cyclist were shot dead in an execution-style killing at a parking lot near the village.
Each of the victims was shot in the head in a killing that bore many of the hallmarks of a professional assassination and that prosecutors described as an act of “extreme savagery”.  Two young daughters of the victims survived, a four-year-old and her seven-year-old sister, who was seriously wounded after being shot in the shoulder during the attack and suffered a fractured skull from what authorities said were “extremely violent” blows to the head.
“Surprising? You’re joking, it’s a little bit more than that,” said a villager drawing deeply on his cigarette.
“Nothing ever happens here for God’s sake,” he said. “This is really something.”
The brother of victim Saad al-Hilli, a 50-year-old Briton born in Iraq, is being investigated following speculation that a money feud could have sparked the killings. But the brother denied any dispute late yesterday.
Since Wednesday, Chevaline has been invaded by policemen, journalists and TV networks and the locals are trying to lead their normal lives despite the intrusion.
Several vans, mostly serving as transmission bases for British television channels, are stationed near a parking lot where the murders took place.