the essential
A few hours after the shooting in Poitiers against a backdrop of drug trafficking, which seriously injured a young man, the public prosecutor spoke to clarify the facts. He notably declared that a homicide investigation had been opened.
The public prosecutor of Poitiers, Cyril Lacombe, spoke a few hours after the bloody shooting which took place in Poitiers where a 15-year-old teenager is still between life and death, a week after a little boy was seriously injured by bullets near Rennes. Here's what you need to remember.
Drug trafficking at the heart of the affair
As quickly mentioned by the media, drug trafficking appears to be the cause of the shooting. The prosecutor confirmed this hypothesis during his press conference, affirming that the shooter – who has not yet been arrested – “would have engaged in the sale of narcotics in the preceding days”. “It started with a shooting at a restaurant and ended with a brawl between rival gangs,” Bruno Retailleau said this morning. The shots were fired from a car.
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Shooting in Poitiers: a brawl breaks out between dozens of people, five seriously injured including a 15-year-old minor between life and death
An open investigation
Following this shooting and after the Minister of Justice declared “that the fight against 'narcocailli' had to be made a real national cause”, during a trip to Rennes – in a district which is a mecca drug trafficking – earlier in the day, the public prosecutor indicated that “a flagrant investigation into attempted homicide” had been opened.
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Shooting in Poitiers: victims, link with drug trafficking… what we know about the tragedy which left 5 injured including a teenager in absolute emergency
Very young victims
During the shooting, which broke out in the night from Thursday to Friday, in front of a restaurant, five people were injured, including a minor who was between life and death. During his press conference, Cyril Lacombe specified the age of the victims. “The five victims identified, all residents of Poitiers, were born in 2008 and 2009” and are therefore 15 and 16 years old.
One of them is “hospitalized in absolute emergency” and “her life-threatening prognosis is in jeopardy”. “Two other victims who were more lightly affected later went to the hospital on their own,” continued the prosecutor. “Their days are not in danger,” he said.
The prosecutor goes against Bruno Retailleau
This morning, on the BFMTV set, Bruno Retailleau assured that between 400 and 600 people were present at the time of the brawl, reporting figures provided by the prefect of Vienne, Jean-Marie Girier. Quickly, the local media, then the department's deputy Sacha Houlié, contradicted the remarks of the Minister of the Interior. In this sense, the public prosecutor declared that “the police services were in contact with around sixty people” and not hundreds as the Minister of Justice had indicated.
Cyril Lacombe added “that no damage was done to businesses or parked vehicles, including those of the police” and that calm was restored around 11:30 p.m. Thursday evening.
