An unemployed French engineer went on trial Tuesday accused of shooting dead three people in 2021 in southeastern France as an alleged act of vengeance for failing to find a job.

Gabriel Fortin, 48, allegedly killed two human resources directors and a jobs centre employee and attempted to kill another worker, following a string of dismissals.

“These are lies,” Fortin told the courthouse in the city of Valence following a reading of the summary of facts in the case.

He went on to point fingers at elected officials and magistrates, who he said were “responsible” for his “situation” by not having responded to his numerous complaints regarding being dismissed from jobs in 2006 and 2009.

“I was a victim,” the former engineer said.

Investigators say his unanswered complaints may have fuelled his desire for revenge.

They also claim he meticulously plotted the bloody January 2021 attack. Three of the four victims who were targeted were associated with his being fired from one company and a government agency.

Dubbed the “HR killer” by local press, he faces a life sentence if found guilty.

The victims involved in the case include Patricia Pasquion, an executive at a Pole Emploi employment agency in Valence, and Geraldine Caclin, head of human resources at the firm Faun Environment.

Fortin is also accused of the death of human resources director and mother of two, Estelle Luce shot in her car, and the attack on a home of Bertrand M., an executive who had been shot and wounded the same day.

France’s then prime minister Jean Castex said at the time the killings had put “the whole country into mourning”.

Fortin’s mother took the stand Tuesday, describing him as having been a “thoughtful” child who grew up without a father, before bursting into tears upon seeing him behind the glass docket.

The trial is expected to continue through June 30.