France: Shooting in Marseille

[JefSlatts]

Marseille shooting: Hooded men open fire with Kalashnikovs

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/963079/france-news-marseille-shooting-police-latest

Nicole Stinson | The Express (UK) | 21 May 2018

HOODED gunmen have opened fire with automatic rifles, kalachnikovs, in Marseille, in south France – with one person reportedly injured.

Armed police at scene of Marseille shooting

The men opened fire on a group of young people not far from the cultural space known as 'La Busserine', local media Corse-Matin reports.

Three vehicles with the masked individuals arrived in the city's district of Busserine at 5pm local time, France's ACTU17 said.

As police arrived on the scene they were blocked by some of the suspects in a Renault Megane, France Bleu reports.

There was then a shoot-out with police before the attackers fled the scene.

At this time it is unclear if any arrests have been made, but police are investigating and a cordon has been set up.

Investigators have so far found 9mm and 7.62 shells at the scene which correspond to Kalashnikov bullets.

Marseille's Marines-Pompiers, the city's fire and rescue service, is also at the scene.

This is the second shooting in the city in a matter of weeks.

Last month a man, said to be in his thirties, was seriously injured in a shooting outside a restaurant in central Marseille

Marseille shooting France newslaprovence.com

Police respond to hooded gunmen opened fire with automatic rifles, kalachnikovs, in Marseille

The victim was hit several times in a hail of bullets after two gunmen opened fire as he sat with a drink in a snack bar.

He was in "serious condition", according to France TV, after being shot more than once in the legs.

The shooting took place in broad daylight shortly before 3pm local time (2pm GMT) on April 17.

Marseille shooting: Gunmen opened fire near cultural space known as 'La Busserine'
There are said to be several witnesses to the brazen attack on Avenue Camille Pelletan.

Since the start of the year, six people have been killed in shootings in Marseille, France TV said.

And three more people have been killed in gun violence in the wider Bouches-du-Rhone area.

[Sturmkrieger]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/21/marseille-france-masked-gunmen-la-busserine

Hooded gunmen armed with AK-47s have opened fire near a group of young people on a housing estate outside the French Mediterranean city of Marseille before reportedly taking a man hostage.

At least one person was injured when the gunmen, all dressed in black, drew up in three vehicles, and began shooting near a cultural centre in the Busserine district.

The local newspaper La Provence reported that the armed gang appeared to be looking for someone and threatened locals before firing several times into the air. They then grabbed a youth and drove off.

Police said the incident was not being investigated as terrorism.

Amateur film footage posted on Twitter showed at least half a dozen black-clad gunmen firing, apparently at random, on the estate. Witnesses said the group brandished several semi-automatic rifles and at least one handgun.

The local prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said the gunmen were involved in an exchange of fire with police called to the scene who found their squad car blocked by a Renault Megane belonging to the gang. After a brief shootout the gunmen sped off.

"According to a witness, one person was abducted in a car whose occupants shot in the air several times," Tarabeux told local journalists.

A Marseille police officer said "numerous bullet casings" had been found at the scene. He added that the incident was not being investigated as a terrorist attack.

The shooting happened shortly before 5pm local time. The injured man was taken to hospital with a minor head injury after one of the gunmen hit him with the rifle butt.

Busserine, one of Marseille's northern housing estates, in the city's 14th arrondissement, is a district of high unemployment, poverty and drug gangs. In 2016 police smashed what was described as a "drug supermarket" with around 450 regular customers and takings of up to €15,000 ($18,000) a day.

France television reported that six people have been killed in alleged gang-related shootings since the beginning of the year.