What we know about the shooting in Poitiers which left five people injured, including a 15-year-old in absolute emergency

A teenager of 15 years is between life and death after a bloody shooting which took place in Poitiers (Vienna), followed by a large brawl, on the evening of Thursday 31 october. In total, five teenagers aged 15 and 16 were injured, according to the city prosecutor's report. An investigation into attempted homicide is open, Cyril Lacombe said during a press briefing late Friday afternoon.

Shooting linked to drug trafficking, he confirmed : “The first elements of the investigation suggest that the shooter may have been involved in the sale of narcotics in the Couronneries sector in the preceding days.” Here's what we know about this shooting.

A shooting followed by a brawl

Thursday evening, around 10:45 p.m., the police intervened after shots were fired in front of a restaurant in a working-class district of Poitiers. They found the first injured person on the ground, shot in the head.

This shooting was followed by a larger confrontation. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, initially spoke on BFMTV “a brawl between rival gangs which involved several hundred people” but, as the Poitiers prosecutor confirmed, the scuffles actually involved “50 to 60 people”.

During their intervention after the shooting, the police found themselves “au contact” of this “crowd” vehement, which “forced” law enforcement to use “three tear gas grenades to repel the ardor of these onlookers”according to the account of Cyril Lacombe. No damage was caused and calm was restored around 11:30 p.m.

“Two witnesses present on site were attacked by several people as being likely to know the identity of the shooter,” said the prosecutor. The police took charge of them, as well as a third person.designated by the clamor as being able to know the aggressor”. “Eleven cases or cartridge cases were found at the crime scene, fired by a semi-automatic weapon, type 22 long rifle”he added.

Five miners injured

In the initial shooting, five people were injured, several seriously. All were born in 2008 or 2009 and live in Poitiers. Friday evening, the teenager of 15 years the most seriously injured was still hospitalized “in absolute emergency with a vital prognosis still involved”said the prosecutor. Two of the victims, “more lightly affected”, have surrendered “subsequently and by their own means at the hospital”, said Cyril Lacombe.

A man actively sought

A search Friday morning in Poitiers “enabled the discovery of seven munitions” et “partial elements of a disassembled weapon”. The accommodation targeted “would have been occupied by a man whose identity is being identified”. Present for several weeks in Poitiers, he is “the object of active research”underlined the prosecutor. “The video surveillance is being used and the neighborhood investigation is continuing,” he added, specifying that “more than ten investigators from the judicial police” are mobilized to carry out the investigations.

Reinforcements sent to the scene

“For this weekend, the State has sent additional CRS resources which will be present in the Couronneries district and throughout the city,” announced on franceinfo the mayor of Poitiers, Léonore Moncond'huy (EELV), Friday evening. “I think the population can be reassured”she added.

“Police reinforcements are arriving”confirmed the prefect of the Vienne department, Jean-Marie Girier, who spoke, on franceinfo, about “more than a hundred police officers present on site”. “We will have both the CRS8 and the CRS84 on Friday evening”two companies of police officers specializing in maintaining order, to reinforce the department's staff, he specifies. “It is “It is important not to spend significant resources just for one evening, but for several days.”