In Poitiers, gunshots leave a minor between life and death against a backdrop of clashes between “rival gangs”

Gunshots left five minors injured, including one victim in an absolute emergency, Thursday October 31, in front of a restaurant in the Couronneries district of Poitiers, according to the Poitiers public prosecutor, Cyril Lacombe.

The prosecution opened an investigation for attempted homicide, specifying that the alleged shooter, according to the first elements of the investigation, “would have engaged in the sale of narcotics”in the area where the facts occurred, “during the previous days”.

According to the public prosecutor in Poitiers, Cyril Lacombe, a suspect whose identity is being verified, “present for several weeks in the city”is sought. During a search Friday morning in a home he allegedly occupied, seven rounds of ammunition of the same caliber as the 11 found at the scene of the shooting, as well as “partial elements of a disassembled weapon”were seized by investigators.

According to the prosecutor, the Poitiers police services were called to the scene by an individual at 10:46 p.m., informing them that “several gunshots” had been heard on Coimbra Square, near a kebab restaurant. “All the units available in the district then converged on this location”again according to the prosecutor who spoke Friday afternoon during a press briefing.

The police found a first injured person on the ground, shot in the head. Aged 15, he was hospitalized in a state of absolute emergency, his life prognosis being compromised. Two other teenagers were injured by gunfire, one aged 16 in a shoulder, the other aged 15 in an ankle . They were taken care of by emergency services. “Two other victims who were more lightly affected later went to the hospital on their own”added the prosecutor, and “their days are not in danger”. All the victims are minors, “born in 2008 and 2009” and residing in Poitiers, he said. Eleven sockets “which would have been fired by a semi-automatic weapon of type 22 long rifle” were found near the restaurant, according to the prosecution.

On the scene, “the police were in contact with around sixty people who wanted to be informed of the events as well as to approach the crime scene to find out what had happened »continued the Poitiers prosecutor. The police used “three tear gas grenades to repel the ardor of these badals” in order to “come” the scene and while the latter demonstrated “vehemence”according to him. Two witnesses present on site were attacked “as being likely to know the identity of the shooter”a third person “being designated by the clamor as being able to know the latter”added the prosecutor.

“No damage was done to businesses or parked vehicles, including those of the police” in the Couronneries district, Mr. Lacombe told the press. He specified that “Calm was restored around 11:30 p.m.”.

“An unprecedented episode” in the history of this city

A little earlier in the day, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, had stated on BFM-TV/RMC that between “400 and 600 people” were involved, citing a report from the prefect of Vienne, Jean-Marie Girier, then specifying that not all of them had participated in the fight. According to the police and the prosecutor's office, the scuffles only involved “50 to 60 people”.

According to the prefect of Vienne, the district concerned, where around 10,000 inhabitants live, is home to “two or three deal points which are important and mobilize the national police a lot on a daily basis”but it remains “relatively calm” : “It is not held by the dealers, even if there can be tensions”said Jean-Marie Girier while calling the families “not to leave minors in the street in the evening”. The district is classified as a priority for city policy (QPV). Reinforcements of mobile forces must be deployed there Friday evening.

The environmentalist mayor of Poitiers, Léonore Moncond'huy, who went to the Couronneries on Friday morning, spoke of “an unprecedented episode” in the history of this city, which “testifies to a fairly serious evolution of society”. M^me Moncond'huy also underlined that the neighborhood had suffered greatly from urban violence in the summer of 2023 after the death of young Nahel in the Paris region. “We are next to the police station which has not yet reopened”she mentioned to the press, pleading for a strengthening of security resources on the ground.

“Tipping point”

“The “narcoracailles” no longer have limits (…). These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers (…). We are at a tipping point,” declared the Minister of the Interior in the morning on BFM-TV. “We must not discover the problem”added Bruno Retailleau, who considered that these shots were “linked to drug trafficking”. “It’s about settling scores”he continued.

The Minister of the Interior went in the afternoon to Rennes, where a 5-year-old child is still between life and death after being shot in the head on Saturday, as part of a settlement of accounts linked to drug trafficking. In an exchange with a resident of the neighborhood, during which he promised reinforcements and the arrival of the National Investigation Unit, created by Gérald Darmanin, Bruno Retailleau used martial vocabulary like last week in Toulouse.

France, he said, would be on the way to « mexicanisation »in his eyes. “I also see, on French territory, enclaves, mini-states, narco-enclaves which are being formed. I can clearly see, in the reports given to me, the web of corruption that threatens our sovereignty.”he assured.

The minister reiterated his determination to intensify fixed fines against consumers. And above all, he once again insisted on his wish that the government take up, and strengthen them, the proposals of the senatorial commission of inquiry against drug trafficking. He recalled that a bill to this effect was on the Senate's desk and expressed the hope that this text would be voted on by parliament in the “next months”.

“We are going to set up a “task force” to break the ecosystem » drug trafficking, added Mr. Retailleau, emphasizing the importance of “global strategy” to try to stem the phenomenon.

Three injured by bullets in Ardèche

In front of a nightclub in Saint-Péray (Ardèche), during the night from Thursday 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.

In Villeurbanne (Rhône), a man in his thirties succumbed to his injuries during the night after being shot in the head, in the Tonkin district. The perpetrator is on the run, according to a police source, who specifies that a 12-gauge shell casing was found on site. The Tonkin district had experienced a series of shootings linked to drug trafficking almost a year ago.

In Grenoble, around 12:40 a.m., a man received three stab wounds in the back and ribs and was taken to hospital in serious condition. The perpetrator of the attacks is on the run, police sources told AFP.

Next Friday, Bruno Retailleau must go with his colleague from justice, Didier Migaud, to Marseille where the settling of scores between drug traffickers is particularly murderous and sordid, with the involvement of young people aged 14-15 as hired killers. The two ministers must announce several measures together.