Paris: attempted murder with a firearm in a crowded terrace on rue Saint-Denis

The street was busy on this mild autumn evening, and customers were on the sidewalk cafes and restaurants.

This Thursday, at 6.30 p.m., rue Saint-Denis (Ier), in the pedestrian part, on the Réaumur-Sébastopol side, a man appeared on a scooter, took out a weapon, shot a young man and fled.

The scene took place on the terrace of the Five Pizza, a small restaurant of the chain, located at n ° 162.

The victim, a young man of 24, injured in the buttock, was taken care of by firefighters and the Samu and rushed to the European hospital Georges-Pompidou.

Its vital prognosis is not engaged.

The victim known to the police

The terraces "where there was a large crowd", according to a police source, were evacuated.

Officials from the Paris center police station established a security perimeter and searched the scene for clues and 22 long rifle bullets, the weapon used by the shooter.

The images from the CCTV cameras were peeled.

The witnesses, interviewed.

Is this a settling of scores against a background of organized crime?

Drug trafficking?

Of a case against the backdrop of prostitution in this sector of rue Saint-Denis?

Personal rivalry?

The victim, identified, living in the 13th arrondissement, very unfavorably known to the police, was "a regular in the area", according to a police source.

In the early evening, the local police station was relieved of this case of attempted murder by the Paris prosecutor's office for the benefit of the first judicial police district.

This Friday, the victim was still in the hospital and the shooter wanted.