According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, the death of the teenager “is part of the continuity of a phenomenon of recurring brawls between young people in the 13th arrondissement sector, where eight clashes have been noted since May 2024”.
A participant in the altercation was arrested, said a police source, specifying that the protagonists had also used tear gas and that the murder weapon, a knife, had been thrown into the courtyard of the middle school.
“It is too early to say whether the person arrested on site (also born in 2008) was directly involved in this death,” he said. specified the prosecution.
The events took place shortly before 8:00 a.m. about a hundred meters from the Rodin high school.
When the police arrived, “the protagonists had fled”declared a second police source.
A minor “was in cardio-respiratory arrest (…) presenting head injuries”, added the prosecution, specifying that in “despite Samu’s attempts to resuscitate”the death of the teenager was noted at 9:15 a.m.
According to the Ministry of National Education, the victim was 16 years old and attended a vocational high school in Alfortville. He lived in Ivry-sur-Seine, a town bordering the 13th arrondissement.
According to the public prosecutor, this minor had already been injured by a stab on December 10 near the René Cassin high school (16th arrondissement), facts which are the subject of an investigation.
At the end of the morning, the street in front of the establishment in the south-east of Paris was cordoned off by the police, noted an AFP journalist.
The investigation was entrusted to Paris territorial security.
Most of the students had already entered the establishment at the time of the events, said the mayor of the 13th century, Jérôme Coumet, present on site.
“For the moment, we do not understand the location of this tragedy” because “there were no warning signs in the establishments in the sector which could have alerted us”, stressed the mayor to the press.
“This morning he had to say goodbye to his parents. I put myself in his parents’ place, I’m so sad there”sighs Émile, 16 years old, attending high school.
According to Maïssa, 16 years old, educated at Rodin high school“around 8:15-20 a.m., police officers started coming, people came to inspect (a) room” of course.
A mobile security team, the regional security brigade, and a psychological support cell “both in support of the educational community and the students”, were deployed, indicated the Ministry of National Education.
Gang phenomena increased by 10% in one year
Between 2022 and 2023, gang phenomena increased by 10% in the Paris metropolitan area, reaching 413 incidents compared to 375, according to information communicated by the Paris police headquarters. There were four deaths in 2023 compared to three in 2022.
The number of injuries increased by 26% and that of the use of a weapon (of any kind) increased by 22.5% between 2022 and 2023.
Several miners were seriously injured or killed. In mid-October, Meissane, 16, was stabbed to death 900 meters from his high school in Aulnay-sous-Bois, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
According to the prosecution, 17 brawls involving groups were recorded in the capital alone in 2024, with 63 injured and two people dead, including Tuesday’s attack.
“It’s a new drama in front of a school” which “confirms that there is a subject” which “cannot only come from the school”, reacted to AFP Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the SNES-FSU union.
This phenomenon, detailed the prosecution, is the subject of a “tightened attention of specific local delinquency treatment groups (GTLDs)”, bringing together local stakeholders.
The objective is that “the warning signs are detected as early as possible, communicated to other actors, and trigger preventive patrols as close as possible to the areas of concern”, said the prosecution.
