The 38th death due to drug trafficking since January. On the night of Friday to Saturday, a young man, aged 17, was shot dead in a city in the northern districts of Marseille, where shootings against the backdrop of drug trafficking have multiplied in recent months.
According to concordant sources, the deceased was known by the State services for narcotics cases. Confirming initial information from BFM Provence and France 3 Provence, the firefighters said they had intervened in the city for a young man injured on the public highway, with gunshot wounds and who died on the spot.
The victim was born in 2005 and was still a minor, police sources said. The investigation was handed over to the federal police.
A “bloodbath”
France’s second city has been the scene of numerous homicides in recent weeks amid a power struggle between rival gangs for control of the lucrative drug trade. Since the beginning of the year, more than thirty people have lost their lives in this context, which has been described as a “bloodbath” by Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens.
According to an AFP count since the beginning of the year, this is the 38th death in a context of narcotics trafficking: 37 shot dead, two of whom were found with their charred bodies in the trunk of a vehicle or just outside. side, and one lynched to death.
This violence around deal points also killed two people this week in Nîmes, in the sensitive district of Pissevin, where the poverty rate peaks at more than 70% and where drug trafficking thrives: a 10-year-old boy, collateral victim who was shot on Monday while driving with his uncle, and an 18-year-old young man killed Thursday at a deal point.