Sometimes a single delusion is enough to turn a quiet neighbourhood into a military scene. In France, an 82-year-old man came out of his house armed, convinced that President Emmanuel Macron had fallen and that a revolution had begun - and opened fire on the gendarmerie.

"Macron has fallen, the revolution has begun!" the old man shouted as he came out onto the street. Alarmed neighbours called the security forces, but when the gendarmes arrived, instead of surrendering, he fired three shots in their direction and wounded two officers in the legs. The forces returned fire, and the old man, probably wounded in the hand, retreated and barricaded himself in the cellar of his house.

After a short siege, special units overpowered him without further casualties. The two wounded gendarmes were taken to hospital - their lives are not in danger - and the suspect was given medical aid for the injury to his hand. An investigation has been opened for the attempted murder of officials, with a psychiatric assessment ordered.

Behind the absurdity of the scene hides a sadder truth. A man of 82, isolated and convinced of a conspiracy that doesn't exist, reached for a weapon over something that lived only in his head. At a time when disinformation and conspiracy theories travel faster than the truth, this isn't just a story about one confused old man - but a question of how much reality is slipping away from those who live alone with a screen and their fear.