A restaurant was attacked with a gun in Poitiers on Thursday October 31 in the evening around 10 p.m., and this “ended with a brawl between rival gangs (…) with all kinds of weapons”declared Friday the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, who was informed of this ” event ” this night. Citing a report from the prefect, the minister added on BFM-TV/RMC that between “400 and 600 people” would be involved, without knowing precisely whether this estimate includes possible spectators.
The police intervened around 10:45 p.m., finding the first person injured on the ground, shot in the head. Aged 15, he was hospitalized in a state of absolute emergency, his life prognosis being in jeopardy. According to the same source, two other teenagers were also injured, one in a shoulder, the other in an ankle, and were treated by emergency services. Around ten 22 caliber shell casings were found on the ground by investigators.
The events took place in the Couronneries district, where reinforcements will be deployed during the day, said the prefect of Vienne in a message posted on X around 4:30 a.m., reporting five victims in total – both The latter, also affected by firearms but more lightly, presented themselves directly to the hospital – and “tensions between groups”.
“It started with a shooting at a restaurant and ended with a brawl between rival gangs which involved several hundred people. I am told of 4 to 600 people, according to the prefect’s report”detailed Bruno Retailleau.
In the morning, the minister's entourage clarified that the episode took place in several parts, involving several hundred people initially, just under a hundred at the time of the prefect's arrival on site. . The minister's entourage then evokes a “punitive expedition” having involved between 50 and 60 people.
According to a police source cited by AFP, 50 to 60 people engaged in scuffles were present on the scene when the police arrived, who then used three tear gas grenades to disperse them.
“We must not discover the problem”declared Mr. Retailleau, who considered that these shots were “linked to drug trafficking”. “It’s about settling scores”he continued. The minister estimated that we were “at a tipping point”while he must go to Rennes where a 5-year-old child is between life and death after being shot in the head on Saturday, as part of a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.
During the night, the police intervened in a place close to the first events, where an individual seemed to be held by around ten others; taken from the crowd, the latter was heard by the investigators.
Three people injured by bullets in Valencia
In front of a nightclub in Saint-Péray (Ardèche), on the night of Thursday October 31 to Friday, three young people aged 22 to 24 were also injured by bullets, according to a police source cited by AFP. These shootings, which would also be linked to drug trafficking, according to the same source, broke out around 2:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the nightclub which was organizing a “Halloween party” on Thursday evening, from 10 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
One of the injured, a young man of 22, was seriously injured by a bullet in the head and transported in absolute emergency to the Valencia hospital center. His vital prognosis is in jeopardy, according to the police source. The other two, more lightly injured, are a 24-year-old woman, hit in one leg, and a 22-year-old man who received bullet fragments, according to France Bleu Drôme Ardèche. Around fifteen firefighters intervened during the night to treat the injured.
[Plus d’informations à suivre sur Lemonde.fr.]
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