At the end of this rainy November 2024, if the entrances to the town of Pont-Audemer (Eure) are not the prettiest, the town center and its surroundings are quite different. A few days after the shooting death of one of its residents, aged 33, on the night of Friday November 22 to Saturday November 23, amid drug trafficking, the town of 10,000 inhabitants is recovering from its emotions . Its mayor, Alexis Darmois, challenged the Minister of the Interior and called for the State's responsibility in matters of security. For him, if we need more prevention and repression so that there are fewer consumers, by giving more rights to municipal police officers, we also need many more gendarmerie resources to attack traffickers.
Read also: Killed by bullets in Pont-Audemer. The mayor asks the government for reinforcements
Only the victim would be from Pont-Audemer
“Many things have been done to improve relations between residents and links between residents and elected officials, explains his chief of staff, Corentin Riou. The number of municipal police and mediation staff has increased from 6 to 12. In 2025, we will reach 100 video protection cameras instead of 2, two years ago. Moreover, those [qui ont filmé le meurtre] are in the hands of justice. And although drug trafficking has existed here for a long time, we have never experienced such violence. »
A few hundred meters further, we cross the Europe district, where the man who was killed lived. “The town is pleasant, the shops dynamic. Here, it's peaceful, you can walk around in complete peace and quiet and the city stadium has recently been renovated. » From a source close to the investigation, only the victim was from the city. The driver of the car, who accompanied the victim during the shooting and those who fired the shots are not believed to be from the region.
“We are on the edge of the A13 and many come from Paris”
Michele (1)in her early sixties, has always lived in the neighborhood. “We are happy here. There is school, college, supermarket and the town center shops are not far away. I often go there on foot, except when I have too many errands to do. » The night of the murder, she was sleeping. “I didn’t hear anything. I talked about it with neighbors. Apart from one who heard some dull noises which must have been the shots, no one heard anything. But I'm amazed that this could have happened to us. »
According to our information, it was in a small isolated street, not far from the fire rescue center, that the tragedy occurred. Crossed in the city center, this resident knows that Pont-Audemer is accustomed to trafficking. “They hide, but not that much. I've seen weird exchanges two or three times before and the way they look at you in that case is not reassuring. But from there we come to settling scores…”
Same feeling for this trader, who wants to remain anonymous because he does not want “no story”. Among his clients, he counts gendarmes, “and I can tell you that they are not idle. We are on the edge of the A13 and many come here from Paris to sell their drugs. We need more means to stop them,” he demands.
The ambush trail
For now, the Évreux public prosecutor Rémi Coutin and the investigators are moving towards the trail of an ambush. “The process is not yet completely clear but it is becoming clearer, Rémi Coutin told us, Monday November 25, 2024. Two men in a car had a meeting in connection with drug trafficking. They stopped and there two cars arrived. Four to five individuals started shooting at them. The passenger, originally from Pont-Audemer, was hit. The driver fled. He went to the fire station to take refuge. This is where the passenger was pronounced dead, while the driver was not injured. »
Read also: Prison van attacked in the Eure: assault, hunt, tributes… The story
Unfavorably known to the courts
An autopsy is to be performed this week. Rémi Coutin also specified that the victim and the driver of the car “are unfavorably known to the courts for having been convicted on several occasions, particularly for cases related to drugs”.
The investigation was entrusted to the Research Section of the Rouen gendarmerie, in collaboration with the Pont-Audemer gendarmes. “We opened a judicial investigation against X, as of yesterday, on charges of organized gang murder, attempted organized gang murder and drug trafficking, the prosecutor told us, Wednesday November 27, 2024, before concluding: No arrests have yet taken place. »
(1) Assumed first name.
