14-year-old teenager killed in Marseille: what we know

A city of Marseille was the scene of a drama affecting two adolescents and a child Wednesday, August 18 in the evening. One lost his life, the other two were injured. Here is what we know about this case qualified on Thursday as “ignoble news” by the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin.

The facts occurred on Wednesday around 10 p.m. near the city of Marronniers, in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille, indicates the Marseille prosecutor’s office in a press release consulted by LCI. The scene would have taken place at the entrance of a parking lot in this district which is one of the most deprived of the city, at the entrance of a parking lot, according to the statements of the inhabitants met this Thursday by an AFP journalist .

“Two individuals” showed up on a scooter at the scene.“Got off the scooter, the passenger, armed with a long weapon like an assault rifle, fired in the direction of the lookout point located before the entrance to the city housing the drug store. He hit two teenagers aged 14 years old”, reports the prosecution.

“One of them […] died shortly after being admitted to hospital. The second, followed by a juvenile judge, was hit in the leg without his life being in danger. ” Present on site, a child of “8 years” has meanwhile been “slightly injured in the head in circumstances yet to be determined”.

“The investigation was entrusted to the judicial police of Marseille”, indicates a police source to LCI. The 14-year-old boy who died had no criminal record but was known to the police, according to our information. For now, the prosecution has not specified whether minors were specifically targeted by armed people.

On site, 8 ammunition of 7.62 caliber were found and seized, according to the prosecution.

“The legal investigations are in progress, but a priori it seems quite obvious that the war of the territories to recover remunerative (drug) deal points is undoubtedly one of the reasons for these armed attacks”, estimated the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, speaking during a press point at the gendarmerie of the city of Gardanne, near Marseille.

“Traffickers have gone abroad to flee the national police, others are in prison, people want to take their place, this probably explains that”, considers the minister who has made the fight against drug trafficking one of his priorities.

The Minister of the Interior had a word for the “bereaved families” and regretted that “terror settles in neighborhoods or cities which we know are the prey of drug traffickers”. “Beyond this despicable news item, over the past ten years the deaths by settling of scores have been halved in Marseille and I encourage the national police to continue their work to impose republican rule against drug traffickers”, he added.

Several homicides by gunshot have taken place in recent months in the second largest city in France in cities and neighborhoods affected by drug trafficking. Eleven people have officially died since the start of the year in settlements in the Bouches-du-Rhône, according to figures from the police headquarters in mid-August.