A bullet whistled under his nose. The others made his ears vibrate. A motorist was targeted by several gunshots on Wednesday evening in Nantes, while he was driving in the Bottière district accompanied by his partner. The tragedy was narrowly avoided: out of at least four bullets fired in bursts, a projectile grazed the driver's chest before slamming into the vehicle's window. The couple escaped without injury.
"Apart from the shot that almost hit the driver, two other shots hit cars parked nearby," a police source confirmed on Thursday. A total of six shell casings were found at the scene of the shooting on Alfred Nobel Street. The nine-millimeter caliber of the projectiles must have belonged to a handgun. The assailant, on foot, rushed after the attack "into a blue vehicle that was waiting for him", according to a witness of the scene quoted by our colleagues from Presse Océan.
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Repeated shootings
Was it a failed settling of scores? A warning, perhaps? Contacted by Le Figaro, the Departmental Police could not yet comment on the motive for this shooting, except that the possibility of simple intimidation has not been ruled out.
Gunfire has multiplied in recent years in the Nantes area. Cornered by the rampant insecurity of certain priority neighbourhoods, the unions of the city's public transport network pleaded last week to relocate bus terminals located in a particularly sensitive area. "We're afraid of a stray bullet; the employees are leaving with a lump in their stomach," said a representative of Force Ouvrière.