Five men were injured with knives, two of them seriously on Monday in the popular Borny district of Metz, the Metz public prosecutor’s office ruling out any terrorist motive.
The events occurred around 10:30 a.m. near a convenience store and reportedly involve several perpetrators on the run. The terrorist motive is excluded and the hypothesis retained at this stage would be a context of extortion of funds, the Metz public prosecutor, Yves Badorc, told AFP.
An investigation was opened on the charge of attempted murder and entrusted to the interdepartmental judicial police service (SIPJ) of Metz.
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.
“A person came home with an axe”
A police source spoke of a possible settling of scores. According to some sources, violence also took place inside the convenience store.
“Someone told me that the person came into the grocery store with an axe,” a local lady told AFP. “I’ve lived here for ten years, this kind of thing doesn’t shock me, we know what Borny is like, so we’re no longer surprised.”
According to another police source, the victims are of Afghan nationality and the manager of the convenience store was targeted, but his condition did not allow him to be heard. The four other injured people do not speak French.
“Palpable tensions”
According to the same source, the Borny district is “always a little hot” and “often the scene of score settling”.
“The mini-market is the object of desire given its location, it is located in a very busy place, it is well placed, whether for legal or illegal trade,” explained this police source. “Fights recur regularly to control the street or the neighborhood.”
Ludovic Mendes, Renaissance MP in the constituency, believes that this is “a dramatic news item which seems to pit people from the same community against each other in the form of settling scores”. “I understand the emotion that this can create but let’s let justice do its work.”
Marie-Claude Voinçon, candidate of the National Rally for the 2nd constituency of Moselle and municipal councilor of Metz, condemned this attack in a press release published on the social network of violence in which Metz finds itself.
Marie, a nurse whose practice is located nearby, who did not wish to give her last name, also 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 told AFP.
Neighborhood hit hard during riots last June
“What happened this morning, according to a neighbor, is in relation to the convenience store, a clan wants it back,” she added.
“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,” described a speech therapist who works nearby and wished to remain anonymous.
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.
The newspaper mentions a possible settling of scores. The perpetrator(s) are believed to still be at large at present.
