Three days later the stabbing in which Matisse, 15, died Saturday April 27, many flowers are stuck in the gutter at the corner of rue Ernest Nivet. In front, candles and words of support are accumulated at the scene of the tragedy, in the Saint-Denis district of Châteauroux.
Two teenagers get off their scooters, a bouquet of roses in their hands. “He was nice, he wouldn’t have hurt a fly, that’s why it’s shocking“, confide these friends of Matisse, who came to pay homage to him, like other residents of the neighborhood, “even those who did not know Matisse well“, adds one of the young people.
Rosalia MacArhtur
Since Saturday, they can’t help but pass several times a day in front of the small altar erected in his memory. “It’s not even a red light district here, nothing happens, it’s a small residential area, there’s never been a problem here“, ask these young people, also residents of the neighborhood, where everyone is still in shock.
“We sleep little per night”
If Matisse’s family is on everyone’s minds, the teenagers keep imagining that they could have been in his place. “Parents who lose their son, it must be horrible, courage to them“, says one of the teenagers. “There are tears flowing, we think of her family, our family, she thinks of us“, dares another.
On the day of the tragedy, he was supposed to join Matisse. But he didn’t go because of an unexpected incident, much to his mother’s relief, he says. “She said to me ‘luckily you didn’t leave today, because I could have gone there too. We don’t sleep much at night, we just think about it.“A feeling shared by many Castelroussins. The mayor of Châteauroux says it himself : “It’s going to take time to get over it“.
