In Rennes, automatic weapon fire left two people injured in the Villejean district, a district particularly affected by drug trafficking.
A new episode of shootings against a backdrop of drug trafficking shook the working-class district of Villejean in Rennes on Saturday evening, May 3. Two minors were injured by gunfire, practically in the same place as the shooting on April 17, when three men were shot .
On Saturday at around 7:30 p.m., in a street parallel to the Kennedy slab where shops and the metro are located, "a group of men who arrived in a vehicle got out armed with at least one automatic weapon and opened fire on a group of individuals present at the scene," the Rennes public prosecutor, Frédéric Teillet, detailed in a press release on Sunday.
"About ten shots were fired, wounding two members of this second group in the legs. A third was also hit by several assailants," added the magistrate.
"There were shots fired and we saw young people running. It's terrible because it's starting again even though there were police officers on the slab!" Régine Komokoli, a member of the departmental council and resident of the area, told Agence France-Presse. "We didn't even have time to reduce the tensions [related to the previous shooting] and now it's starting again, again in broad daylight," she added.
The attackers fled by car and were "pursued by the police who arrived on the scene very quickly," according to Mr. Teillet. The three individuals, aged 19 to 21, were finally arrested in Saint-Grégoire, a town bordering Rennes, and then taken into custody.
“Kalashnikov type” weaponThe three victims, minors aged 16 to 17, were hospitalized. The two gunshot victims underwent surgery, but their injuries were not life-threatening. The third victim has been released from the hospital.
As proof of the intensity of the shooting, "at the scene of the incident, impacts were noted on three vehicles and another in an unoccupied apartment. The weapon probably used, a Kalashnikov, was found on the escape route," the prosecutor said.
The Rennes prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into attempted murder by an organized gang, criminal conspiracy and voluntary violence in a group, entrusted to the city's Organized and Specialized Crime Division (DCOS).
On Sunday morning, the Ille-et-Vilaine prefecture announced that a CRS company had been sent to Villejean during the night.
" Incomprehension "In a press release, Lénaïc Brièro, deputy mayor responsible for security, described this "new episode of settling scores between drug traffickers" as "particularly chilling and revolting" .
"Despite this exemplary mobilization of local police and justice personnel, this new shooting could not be avoided. This arouses legitimate incomprehension and raises, once again, the question of the resources allocated by the State to the fight against drug traffickers and the protection of the inhabitants of our city," added the elected official.
On April 17, three men were shot and wounded in a sandwich shop in this popular and lively neighborhood, considered one of the most affected by drug trafficking in the Breton capital. Four men, aged 21 to 23, suspected of having formed this commando, were imprisoned .
The investigations established that the four suspects were "involved in drug trafficking organized by a network of individuals from the Paris region on the Kennedy slab, since January," according to the Rennes prosecutor's office.
The World with AFP
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