He was “neither closely nor remotely linked to this story”. Nicolas Dumas, the young 22-year-old rugby player killed in front of a nightclub in Saint-Péray (Ardèche), is a collateral victim of the “mission” of the two men indicted, said Nicolas Bessone, the public prosecutor of Marseille , during a press conference, this Tuesday, November 12.
Hit by a shot in the head on the night of Thursday October 31 to Friday November 1, Nicolas Dumas died from his injuries on Saturday November 2. Two other people, hit by bullets, were more lightly injured, said Nicolas Bessone, who returned to the events.
The two suspects arrested on the same day
That night, around 2:40 a.m., a Renault Scénic parked in the parking lot of the Le Seven nightclub, which was organizing a Halloween party with around 800 people. On board, a driver and a passenger, their faces hidden under a hood. The latter comes out of the vehicle with a firearm, “which could be a 357 Magnum revolver”, according to Nicolas Bessone. The man opened fire on one of the establishment’s bouncers and injured him in the leg. A second shot goes off “in the direction of a client who was nearby,” said the prosecutor. The injuries of the two victims are “serious, but they are not fatal,” he said.
It was at that moment that the man shot at a group, gathered at the entrance to the nightclub, and hit Nicolas Dumas in the head. The young rugby player, suffering from “irreversible brain damage”, died of his injuries two days later, according to the magistrate. After returning to the Renault Scénic, the driver and his passenger – the alleged shooter – fled. The vehicle was found burned in Valencia two days later. It was stolen in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) on October 30.
Thanks to “telephone work, human intelligence and vehicle tracking”, the two suspects were quickly identified and arrested, explained Nicolas Bessone, who praised “a very rapid and very effective investigation”. Monday, November 4, around 6 p.m., the alleged shooter, a 19-year-old young man of Italian origin, was arrested in Marseille by police officers from the BAC Nord (anti-crime brigade), at a deal point in the Bricarde district in the 15th arrondissement of the Phocaean city.
The latter, described by the prosecutor as “a homeless person”, unknown to the police and justice services, arrived in France several months ago. “The magistrates will question the Italian authorities to find out if he was unfavorably known,” said Nicolas Bessone. The second suspect, the driver of the Renault Scénic, was arrested two hours later at his home in Cavaillon (Vaucluse). Aged 23, he has already been convicted several times for acts related to drug trafficking and domestic violence.
The trail of the privileged extortion attempt
If the two men “recognize the materiality of the facts with which they are accused, that is to say that the driver admits to having driven the shooter to the discotheque and the shooter admits to having used a firearm”, their versions “diverge”, explained the public prosecutor of Marseille.
Before the investigators, the driver explained that he was “recruited on social networks” to “recover a vehicle in Marseille and to go to a deal point in Valence”, continued the magistrate. “It was only once he arrived there”, in Valencia, “that he was told that things were going to change”, he added, claiming “not to know the shooter” before.
The shooter indicated that he had to go to Valencia to find a deal point, but that the “mission changed at the last moment”, detailed the prosecutor. Explaining that he had been asked to “commit an act of intimidation”, the suspect claimed that he “did not want to take anyone’s life”, according to Nicolas Bessone.
“This is an action aimed at intimidation, probably aimed at the disco,” said the prosecutor, adding that “the question remains as to why and the intention of these intimidation maneuvers”. Concerning the possibility of an extortion attempt targeting the nightclub, Nicolas Bessone indicated that it was “a preferred working hypothesis”.
The magistrate recalled that “the mode of operation, the elements of the motor vehicle, the fact that we found and questioned the shooter on a Bricarde deal point naturally brings us back to Marseille”, but at this stage, no element “suggests that this is a question linked to drug trafficking” or “allows this possible extortion to be linked to the DZ Mafia group”, according to the magistrate.
The alleged shooter and the driver were indicted for “assassination and attempted assassination by an organized gang” and “criminal association”, Thursday November 7. They were both placed in pre-trial detention.
