A 17-year-old is brain dead after a violent fight between groups of young people from rival cities on Tuesday evening in Fleury-Mérogis in Essonne, the Evry prosecutor's office said on Wednesday July 27, contacted by AFP.
According to the prosecution, the gendarmerie was called after a brawl between young people from Fleury-Mérogis to a gang from the Pyramids district in Evry.
The gendarmes found this 17-year-old with “
very serious head injuries
”.
Brain dead, he was evacuated to a Paris hospital.
“Recurring Brawl Phenomena”
A little earlier in the evening, a first confrontation had resulted in the hospitalization of a young person from Evry.
The youngster from Fleury could have been attacked during a "
return match
", a punitive expedition carried out later in the evening to avenge the injury of the youngster from Evry.
“
I saw a big fight on Rosa Parks Street yesterday (Tuesday) evening while shopping.
The young people were fighting with iron bars and baseball bats
”, testified to AFP a resident of Fleury-Mérogis wishing to remain anonymous.
According to her, this fight opposed young people from the Aunettes district to those from the Pyramids.
"
We have recurring brawls with the neighboring town of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, but with the Pyramids of Evry it's new
," Olivier Corzani, mayor (PCF) of Fleury told AFP. -Mérogis, a small town of nearly 15,000 inhabitants, about 25 kilometers south of Paris.
“
The city of Fleury is a territory in difficulty, I regularly alert the state services on this subject
”, added the elected official, who declared himself “
deeply bruised
” by the tragedy.
Essonne, brawl department
“
This youngster was at the wrong time in the wrong place, he was not involved in the confusion.
He was a gentle and calm person.
He fell into the hands of fools who were there to enforce the law of the jungle
,” he said, adding that a psychological cell would be set up in his city.
In the current state of the investigation, it is too early to say whether this young man had participated in the brawls or not, said the prosecution.
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In 2020, a quarter of the brawls recorded in France took place in the Essonne department, with 91 clashes recorded in this territory of around 1.3 million inhabitants.
In 2021, 129 clashes, individual and between gangs, were recorded in the department.
Three young people, including two 14-year-old teenagers, were killed that year in the department.