The investigation is progressing after the death of three people, including a 16-year-old teenager, in a series of shootings which left three dead and 14 injured in the Marseille city, overnight from Sunday to Monday.
Four people were arrested in connection with the third shooting, which occurred between midnight and 12:30 a.m. on Monday April 3, Marseille prosecutor Dominique Lorens announced at a press conference, while describing a violent climate against a background of drug trafficking.
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Victims known to the police
The first shots took place around midnight near the city of Castellas, in the 15th arrondissement.
Two men, aged 21 and 23, died, hit by 7.62mm (assault rifle caliber) and 9mm (handgun) bullets.
One of them was found dead on the public highway, while the second was traveling in his vehicle.
A second shootout followed in the area.
A total of six victims were injured in these two events, and a burnt-out vehicle was found, believed to be that of the shooters.
Forty cases were recovered from the scene of the crime.
Then, shortly before 1 a.m., a third shooting broke out near the city center and the port district of La Joliette (2nd arrondissement), rue Vincent-Leblanc.
There, a 16-year-old teenager was killed while another, aged 15, was injured and his vital prognosis is for the time being "
very committed
", according to the Marseille prosecutor.
A third boy, aged 14, was less seriously injured after managing to flee into "
an adjacent street
".
If the 14-year-old boy is unknown to the police, the 15-year-old “
had appeared before the juvenile judge on March 31 for a drug trafficking case, then found guilty
”.
The 16-year-old victim was also known to authorities.
Read alsoDrug trafficking in Marseille: assault rifles and 330,000 euros seized during a major dragnet in a city
No business connection
The three shootings would not, however, have any link between them, according to Dominique Lorens, who points to a “
double logic
” which has been raging in Marseille since “
the summer of 2021
”: “
We first see a logic of vendetta which is exercises over a certain number of individuals who commit acts of force or homicide (…) and a logic of territorial control
”, she declared in a press conference.
She also expressed concern about the “
rejuvenation of victims
”.
In 2023 alone, the authorities opened 32 procedures related to drug trafficking in organized gangs in Marseille, with 14 dead and 43 injured, in particular by weapons of war, compared to 46 procedures and 32 deaths over the whole of Marseille. the year 2022 in Marseille and the Bouches-du-Rhône.
In 2021, 30 cases had been identified, with 25 deaths.