relatives of Mohammed, hit by a “probable flash-ball shot”, want “the truth, to know how he died”

What happened in Marseille on the night of Saturday July 1 to Sunday July 2? The city prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation for “fatal blows with the use or threat of a weapon“Following the death of Mohammed, 27, on the sidelines of the riots in Marseille, a few days after the death of young Nahel, in a roadside check in Nanterre.

>> Riots after the death of Nahel: find the latest information in our live

This father from Algeria had his habits in the tea rooms of Cannebière, and the evening of the tragedy, he was precisely on the terrace with one of his best friends. “We were together until 11:30 p.m., midnightsays this close. Muhammad told me ‘I’m going to prune at my mother’s, that way I see her and then I go home’, because he is married, he lives alone“, adds his friend.

The victim goes by scooter to his mother’s home then collapses once he arrives at the foot of the building. “Arrived at the bottom of his mother’s house, he took off his helmet and he fell directly, it was a shock“, says a friend. According to a source close to the investigation, interviewed by franceinfo, the victim, who was riding a scooter, was discovered in Cours Lieutaud, in the city center, before being taken to hospital, where death was pronounced.

At the hospital, doctors identified a chest wound. The prosecution judges “probable death caused by a violent shock to the thorax caused by the firing of a flash-ball type projectile“, which led to a cardiac arrest of the young man.

Relatives convinced that he did not participate in the riots

For the time being, the Marseille prosecutor’s office affirms that it is not “it is not possible to determine the place where the young man was hit by this ‘likely‘ LBD shot”, nor even to say whether he took part in the riots. But for several relatives of the young father, met by franceinfo, Mohammed could not participate in urban violence and other looting.

“No, nothing to do [avec les émeutes], he has a child and his wife is pregnant! It’s kid stuff, not grown-up stuff!”

A friend of Muhammad

at franceinfo

A friend shakes her head and makes the same argument: “Oh no ! He is married, he has a child, soon a second. He works, he was an Uber driver and nice to everyone“, remembers the young woman.

Another relative is more cautious and wants “let the investigation take its course: we don’t know, it’s not up to us to say if it’s voluntary, if he was demonstrating, breaking up, there’s no one who can say“, explains this friend. He recognizes that if Mohammed was a collateral victim of the riots, “these are things that can happen: we remember during the Yellow Vests, the lady on her balcony, Zineb, she took a flashball [une grenade lacrymogène alors qu’elle fermait les volets de son appartement marseillais]she did not participate in the demonstrations”recalls this close friend of Mohammed.

“We’re shocked because he’s my colleague, he’s like my brother, says another friend. We want the truth, how he died“, he demands. The family of the young man of 27 years has the same request, but refuses for the moment to speak.