Thursday October 31, 2024, shortly before midnight, a shooting broke out in the Couronneries district of Poitiers, in front of L'Otentik, a kebab restaurant on Place Coïmbra, known in the district.
According to information transmitted by the prefecture via the social network X (formerly Twitter), five injuries have been reported. These five people were seriously injured, announced Bruno Retailleau, Minister of the Interior, who linked these shootings to drug trafficking.
One of the injured, aged 15, is between life and death, according to a police source. He was shot in the head, the same source said, adding that two other teenagers, both aged 16, were among those seriously injured. These are two players from US Buxerolles, to whom the football club supports on Facebook.
The Minister of the Interior added BFMTV/RMC what “several hundred people” had witnessed or participated in this shooting. According to testimonies, it was not in fact « that » of several dozen people. “All told, there were maybe a hundred people. It was fighting in every direction. There was even a car windshield that shattered”tells us Jean-Paul, resident of Couronneries, who witnessed part of the events.
According to the prefecture, this shooting was the result of tensions between groups of people. “It started with a shooting at a restaurant and ended with a brawl between rival gangs which involved several hundred people,” detailed Bruno Retailleau.
Then in another neighborhood
The minister estimated that we were “at a tipping point”while he has to go to Rennes where a 5-year-old child is between life and death after being shot in the head last Saturday, as part of a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.
The situation “ required the intervention of the police and the gendarmerie and police reinforcements will be deployed from this Friday 1is November “. The Ministry of the Interior has decided to send around fifty police officers from CRS 84, a new company created to fight against urban violence.
According to our information, it was an employee of the social center, present on site, who helped to restore calm. But it seems that tensions then shifted to another Poitevin district. Still according to our information, it would be that of Montbernage.
Since Friday morning, the police have been interviewing witnesses.
In the middle of rubbish, Coimbra Square, Friday November 1st in the morning… a plastic gun.
© (Photo NR-CP, Mathieu Herduin)
Return to calm this morning
Friday 1is November in the morning, on site, everything is very calm, Hassan Maida, a resident of the neighborhood, explains: “I was coming out of a small show where I take care of security, I saw around twenty young people around a car in front of the kebab shop… I stupidly thought they were queuing for food…. so I left. When I heard the news this morning, I immediately made the connection. »
At the nearby Chicken Burger food truck, which closed around 10:30 p.m. yesterday, the couple of managers testify: “Like every evening, there was a crowd in front of L’Otentik but nothing more. Loud music coming from the cars but not from there to imagine that the evening was going to turn out differently. »
From there to imagine that the evening would turn out differently
The managers of the Chicken Burger food truck The Coronaries in Poitiers
A resident of Place de Bretagne, aged 90, was surprised this Friday morning by what she heard on television and what she had experienced in the neighborhood for years: “Yes, we know that there is traffic, but I am 90 years old and I assure you that I do not feel unsafe in Couronneries. Of course, I don't go out at night. My daughter lives in Deux-Sèvres and is pestering me to move… but for what? Les Couronneries is my neighborhood and I love it the way it is! »
“Unacceptable” according to the mayor of Poitiers
In a press release, the mayor of Poitiers Léonore Moncond'huy considers that “this new episode of violence is unacceptable for the neighborhood, and for the city. I wish a speedy recovery to the injured, and I call on everyone's responsibility to maintain peace in the city. »
The chosen one greets as she passes « the security forces for their intervention and their future reinforced presence » and calls « that the investigation clarifies as quickly as possible the precise circumstances of the event, and allows the identification and arrest of the perpetrators. »
For her part, Lisa Belluco, MP for the first constituency whose parliamentary office is located in the heart of the Couronneries district, reacts: “What we are seeing at the moment is that medium-sized cities like Grenoble, Rennes and now Poitiers are also affected by drug trafficking. Our government will have to take action and this cannot be done by reducing the justice budget. ».
