Total confusion reigned on Monday evening at the Quatre-Chemins crossroads, between Pantin and Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis). A policeman fired, hitting a cigarette vendor in the hip. The man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
As a victim, he would also be an aggressor. According to our information, he stuck a knife in the leg of another vendor. He is also accused of trying to grab the police officer's gun. As a result, he was taken into custody.
Fights are legion
On Monday, around 18:50 p.m., there were many flashing lights of police vehicles at this major intersection. A deployment of forces, which is not unusual in this place known for trafficking of all kinds, but especially for the endemic sale of counterfeit cigarettes, the Marlboro Bled. One of the shopkeepers, seated in the front row, said that "more than a hundred" of them were holding out their cigarette packets in front of the metro entrances.
Fights are legion. For territorial reasons, the "rescuers" come to blows or pull out the knives. That's what happened at first on Monday. In the early evening, yet another confrontation breaks out between two men. One of them pulls out a bladed weapon, which witnesses said was actually a screwdriver. The police were called by local residents.
During their intervention, the police of Pantin find themselves caught up in the fight. The confusion is total. A man then brandished his gun. "A police officer used his administrative weapon on one occasion to neutralize the attacker," confirms a source close to the case.
Pharmacy transformed into makeshift hospital
The gunman was shot in the hip. Another victim was pulled out of the fray: he had been wounded in the thigh by two stab wounds.
Before the transfer to the hospital, the pharmacy, which is on the corner of the neighborhood, was used as a makeshift hospital to receive the wounded. It had to close prematurely at 19 p.m. on Monday night.
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Subsequently, a third person presented himself to the emergency room of the Roseraie clinic in Aubervilliers. She had a stab wound to her lower back. She was taken into custody, along with the other two cigarette sellers involved. The one hit by a bullet is suspected of "attempted voluntary homicide and use of a police officer's administrative weapon," the source said.
The IGPN, the police of the police, was asked to act as an observer to assess the circumstances of the police shooting.