A minor was indicted for “attempted murder” after an attack with a hammer in Reims followed by reprisals, and five others were referred to the juvenile court after this violence linked to “rivalries between neighborhoods”, the prosecution and the prefecture said on Friday.
On November 21 at 6 p.m., “a young man aged 17 was violently attacked” in the tram in Reims “with hammer blows”, indicated the Reims public prosecutor's office and the Marne prefecture in a joint press release. He was “seriously injured in the skull and jaw” and one “permanent disability is considered”, they added.
The day after, “obviously in retaliation for the attack on the tram”, four minors aged 16 to 17, “seeing that a group of four young people from the rival neighborhood” were waiting for them in front of the school, “were picked up by a VTC”.
Before the vehicle could start, one of the attackers “seriously injured by two stab wounds” a 17-year-old passenger, putting his life in danger, reported these two sources.
Rivalry between neighborhoods worsened by social networks
The alleged perpetrators of the two acts were arrested on November 27 and 28.
The investigation established “that the victim of the stabbing is the author of the violence with hammer blows in the tram”, indicated the prosecution and the prefecture.
The motive for these acts “appears to be above all the rivalry between Reims neighborhoods, aggravated by the intensive use of social networks increasing violence and resentment between young people”.
The alleged perpetrator of the violence in the tram was presented to an investigating judge “for attempted murder” and imprisoned. Five minors aged 16 to 17 were brought before the prosecution on Friday for acts of “aggravated violence” and referred to the juvenile court.
