Emmanuel Macron returned on Wednesday evening to the drama which is shaking the Drôme. The head of state denounced “the terrible assassination” of young Thomas on the sidelines of a village ball in Crépol.
“We have to face more and more episodes of violence against you, elected representatives of the Republic, but also episodes of violence which have marked us all,” noted the president in particular in a speech to the mayors, invited to a reception at the Elysée. Earlier in the day, more than 6,000 people marched in Romans-sur-Isère, a town near Crépol, to pay tribute to the 16-year-old teenager.
Nine young people arrested
At the same time, the custody of the nine young people arrested as part of the investigation for “murder” and “attempted murders by an organized gang” continues and the gendarmes continue to look for other suspects, for his part indicated the Valencia parquet.
Aged 20, the man who was “formally designated as the perpetrator of the fatal stabbing” was arrested Tuesday with six “accolytes” in the vicinity of Toulouse, according to the prosecution. Two other suspects were arrested in the Romans-sur-Isère area. Three of the suspects are minors over 16 years old, the others are between 19 and 22 years old, some are known to the courts.
The main suspect lives in “the center” of Romans-sur-Isère
The criminal record of the alleged perpetrator of the fatal stabbing includes two fines, one recent for carrying a bladed weapon, another for concealment of theft, according to Laurent de Caigny, the Valence prosecutor. He lives in “the center” of Romans-sur-Isère and “not the Monnaie district”, one of the areas of the city targeted by some since the tragedy, according to the same source.