The terrorist hypothesis is excluded at this stage, specified to theAFP the public prosecutor of Metz, Yves Badorc, who was unable to provide any other information immediately. The firefighters indicated that they had treated four people with stab wounds, including one who was slightly injured, who were taken to Mercy hospital in Metz. Another injured person made his own way to the hospital.
The victims are around thirty years old, firefighters said. The latter deployed four ambulances and around fifteen men to the scene of the attack. The injured are five men, said a police source.
The events took place at 11 a.m., Monday morning, in the street in front of a business, said another police source. The attack occurred near a supermarket in the Borny district of Metz, according to The Lorraine Republicanwhich evokes a possible settling of scores.
Marie, a nurse whose practice is located nearby, who did not wish to give her last name, spoke of tensions in the neighborhood. “There is insecurity, there is drug trafficking, it is known, we are not safe at all. A few months ago, a 17-year-old boy was shot right next door, on Boulevard d’Alsace, the parallel street. There are palpable tensions between clans,” she toldAFP.
“What happened this morning, according to a neighbor, is in relation to the convenience store, a clan wants it back,” she added. On Monday, a security perimeter was set up in the neighborhood. “I couldn’t work, people weren’t allowed to enter the building,” explained a speech therapist who works nearby and who wished to remain anonymous.
“I saw injured people, people hitting each other, and someone running with an ax after a car. They were young people. Afterwards, the police and firefighters arrived, but I don’t know more. These are undoubtedly score settlings. There is drug trafficking here, even if during the day, we don’t see much,” she added.
Borny is a priority district in the politics of the city of Metz which was hit hard last year during the riots that occurred after the death of young Nahel, killed in Nanterre, during a police check. The neighborhood media library was set on fire, to the great dismay of elected officials and residents. The neighborhood’s town hall was also partially burned.
