A child died and an adult was injured in Nîmes, in southeastern France, after the vehicle they were traveling in was hit by gunfire, authorities said, admitting it was a “settlement”.
French police indicated that the attack could have been carried out in the context of conflict between groups linked to drug trafficking.
The shots were recorded at 11 p.m. (one hour less in Lisbon) on Monday in the Pissevin district, a place known as the usual place of drug trafficking in Nîmes, where other acts of violence have already taken place.
According to information from the authorities, the vehicle, driven by a resident of the neighborhood in which two underage nephews were also riding, was shot as it was preparing to park.
The fatal victim, a 10-year-old boy, was hit when he tried to run out of the car.
An unworthy scene with weapons of war on the square of the Pissevin district #Nîmes.
It is now a famille decimée of the criminals who will sing Venus fair in this cité.
A 10-year-old child is a victim of a tir.
After your battle over… pic.twitter.com/KwqfQ9Y9sg– Matthieu Valet (@mvalet_officiel) August 22, 2023
French news portal Actu 17 writes that footage captured by mobile phones shows an attacker wielding a shotgun before fleeing in a car driven by an accomplice.
The vehicle used by the attackers was later found destroyed by fire.
However, a police source quoted by France Info indicated that several witnesses had seen at least four attackers.
The attacked driver drove the car to the hospital, where his cousin eventually died.
The driver of the car that was hit was injured in the back by the shots.
French Interior Minister (equivalent to the Ministry of the Interior), Gérard Darmanin, wrote on the social network X that the “acts appear to have been a settlement of accounts between traffickers”.
“It is a great drama that will not go unpunished,” said the minister, recalling that the “police have made several arrests in recent weeks and will intensify their presence in Nîmes.”
Source: DN
