A child died and a man was seriously injured in a shooting in Nîmes on the night of August 21 to 22, 2023. An investigation has been opened and the Minister of the Interior denounces a possible “settlement of accounts” between traffickers.
Fatal gunshots in Nîmes. A 10-year-old child was shot dead in a shooting that occurred on the night of Monday August 21 to Tuesday August 22, 2023, in the Pissevin district, in the south-west of the city, classified as a priority urbanization zone (ZUP) . An adult, the victim’s uncle, was also seriously injured. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, reacted denouncing a “huge tragedy which will not go unpunished”.
A shooting breaks out in Nîmes
It was between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. when a shooting rang out in the south-west of Nîmes. At least one man armed with a rifle would have opened fire several times near the avenue des Arts, according to information fromNews17. The shooter allegedly targeted a vehicle which housed a 27-year-old man living in the Nîmes district of Pissevin and two of his nephews, reports France Bleu Station Lozere. The local radio antenna indicates that four suspects are involved in the shooting according to several witnesses. They say they saw the shooter flee in a vehicle driven by an accomplice. The sequence of events has yet to be confirmed by investigators. At the scene of the shooting, a dozen casings were found confirming the trail of the shooting.
According to the Minister of the Interior, the shooting of the night would respond to “what seems to be a settling of accounts between traffickers”. And the politician adds that the “police have already arrested many traffickers in recent weeks and will intensify their presence with firmness.”
Nîmes: a 10-year-old child killed during what appears to be a settling of accounts between traffickers. It is a huge drama that will not go unpunished. The police have already arrested many traffickers in recent weeks and will intensify their presence with firmness.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) August 22, 2023
A deceased child, who are the victims?
The victims of the shots were returning from a restaurant. The driver was trying to park his vehicle when he was shot at. He then restarted and took the road to the hospital where the youngest of the children, aged 10, died of a serious injury in the back. The uncle of the two children was seriously injured by three bullets in the back BFM TV. The second child and last passenger is unharmed.
The perpetrators of the shooting on the run, an open investigation
If the victims went to the hospital, the suspects are on the run. They were “on board a stolen vehicle which was found some time later nearby”, told François-Xavier Debonneville, deputy departmental secretary of the National Police Alliance in the Gard, at France Bleu Gard Lozere. Investigators are looking for them. The vehicle was spotted in the nearby district of Valdegour. An investigation was opened and entrusted to the judicial police of Nîmes.