Henri Admirat lived in the same building as Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois. He bore many grudges against the Revolution, not least for closing down the public lottery of which he had been an employee, and making him redundant. He decided to assassinate Collot and had lain in wait for his victim, armed with two pistols. Collot, returning from a late-night meeting of the Committee of Public Safety, was chatting with his governess on the stairway when Admirat struck. Admirat fired two shots at Collot at point-blank range, but both pistols misfired. Collot then defended himself with his sword and managed to prevent the would-be assassin from escaping from the building. Admirat barricaded himself in his flat and was later arrested by the passing National Guards patrol, but not before seriously wounding a man named Geoffroy who was helping the National Guards to gain entry into the flat.[1]
