The police apprehended a minor of 17 years this Wednesday, February 19 in the morning, as part of the investigations on the explosion of a grenade which targeted an associative bar in Grenoble on February 12.
A 17 -year -old teenager, arrested near Grenoble, recognized his involvement in the Granada attack that hit a city bar on February 12, according to Le Parisien. Currently placed in police custody for another case, the young suspect is, at this stage, not formally involved in the attack on the Grenada on February 12, according to a source close to the investigation. Paniced, he would have asked himself a passer-by to warn the gendarmes, saying that he had just escaped an assassination attempt. Faced with the police, he would then have admitted his involvement in several recent shootings that occurred in the Grenoble agglomeration, claiming to have acted on behalf of sponsors.
According to the Lyon prosecutor’s office, in charge of the Investigation into the Granada attack, a teenager was well placed in police custody for an attempted homicide in Grenoble, but in the context of a separate case . Arrested on Wednesday on Wednesday on the outskirts of the city when he was in possession of a shotgun, he immediately declared to the gendarmes that he was targeted after being “paid to kill people”, according to prosecutor Thierry Dran. The young suspect is prosecuted for wearing weapons, association of criminals and attempted homicide in organized gang, and can be retained up to 96 hours. However, the magistrate specifies that he is not asked about the grenade attack.
Did the explosion that rocked Grenoble on February 12 in the evening aimed at the manager of the associative bar of the Olympic village district? According to François Touret de Coucy, deputy prosecutor of the Republic, an individual entered the establishment, launched a grenade without pronouncing a word, then immediately flew. A police source cited by Le Parisien specifies that the spoon of the explosive machine was found on the spot. A total of 15 people were injured, according to the Minister of Health Yannick Neuder, and at least two remain in critical condition.
The thesis of the discarded attack
If the investigators explore all the tracks, the prosecutor has however dismissed the thesis of an attack. Located in a priority district, the targeted establishment is a popular meeting place for residents and visitors, in particular to follow football matches, said Chloé Pantel, deputy mayor of Grenoble. Investigators now explore the track of an act of reprisals linked to illegal traffic, a credible hypothesis with regard to the Grenoble context and the magnitude of the drug market in the region. The declarations of the manager of the bar taken as a target seem to go in this direction. According to Franceinfo, this 56 -year -old man told investigators that he was personally targeted by the attack, without specifying the exact reasons for this assault. His legal past also intrigues the authorities, his locker comprising 11 convictions, the most recent of which, in November 2024, for money laundering – a decision currently on appeal.
If the owner of the bar was not placed in police custody, his 28 -year -old son was briefly arrested after trying to recover smuggling cigarettes in the establishment despite the security perimeter put in place by the police. He was released Thursday evening, but a preliminary investigation was opened against him. His criminal record is even more busy, with 13 convictions, including one for the double murder of Kevin and Sofiane in 2012 in Échirolles (Isère). Released in 2023, he has since received new sanctions for offenses committed in detention (violence, contempt, concealment) as well as for witness subore in April 2024.