Two minors were arrested after the death of the young Elias and one of them ended up recognizing having brought the blow that led to the death of the 14 -year -old adolescent. What we know of suspects and their confessions.
One of the suspects has confess. Two teenagers aged 16 and 17 were arrested in Paris, on Friday, January 24, because suspected of having stabbed Elias, a 14 -year -old boy. The latter left Stadium Jules Noël, in the 14th arrondissement of the capital, where he had a football training, when he was attacked by the suspects who sought to steal his phone. Refusing to let it go, Elias collapsed after being injured in the collarbone while the two attackers fled without taking the booty. Supported by the emergency services and then at the Necker hospital, the victim died on Saturday January 25.
Identified by a friend of Elias who was with him at the time of the facts, the two suspects were able to be quickly arrested. Placed in police custody Friday evening and auditioned, they recognized their presence on the scene and at the time of the assault. They quickly recognized the attempted extortion with violence of the teenager’s laptop by denying the deadly blow. It was only in a second step that one of the oldest teenagers admitted to having wore the stab on Elias. “My client recognized his criminal responsibility and he wanted to say what happened. He fully assumes his responsibility,” confirmed the suspect’s lawyer, Me Babacar Niang, on BFMTV.
The guard has seen the two teenagers ended on Sunday evening, but the suspects must be transferred to the court and presented to a judge this Monday, January 27. An investigation for “attempted homicide on a minor under the age of 15 and extortion with a weapon” was opened, but the latter was reclassified as “extortion followed” after the death of Elias. The suspects face life imprisonment.
Two minor attackers with the already loaded lockers
The two adolescents arrested for the assault and death of Elias were not at their test gallop. The youngest already has a locker filled with theft, theft with violence and theft in meeting. That of 17, who recognized the mortal blow, was the subject of an educational measure in December 2023 for acts of theft and extortion, according to The Parisian. He is known for having committed thefts, extortion with violence and for wearing white weapons.
The two minors know each other since they live “in the same building” according to the older lawyer. The duo had also already been referred last October for violent thefts and since the ban on contacting next June before the miners’ court. An obligation that has not been respected. “They live in the same building and it is difficult to say to two young people who have practically the same interests, not to frequent, and who are led to see each other in common places,” said Niang on Bfmtv. The Council stressed: “It does not in any way justify the violation of the obligation they had, but it is the strength of things”.
Still according to the older lawyer for suspects, his client “is saddened” and “knows very well what happened”. “He knows that things will change for him, things will change for a family, for the victim’s family. All of this makes him sad,” says Niang.
Political reactions to the death of Elias
Prime Minister François Bayrou denounced on His X account A “feeling of impunity” and condemned “adolescent violence” which appeared on Friday. The Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, castigated a “barbarians” act And said he was “horrified by this free violence, the result of a loss of bearings and the collapse of authority”.
His counterpart to justice, Gérald Darmanin, said on Sunday January 26 on x Gather on Monday “all the general prosecutors and public prosecutors, placed under (his) authority, in order to give them the instructions of criminal policy to implement” in the face of “unacceptable violence” of the past few weeks and the latter days. He “will assign them two priorities that will provide a quick and firm criminal response”.