Five individuals have sustained serious injuries in a shooting outside a restaurant linked to drug trafficking gangs in western France, as announced by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday.
According to the minister, “several hundred people” witnessed or were involved in the shooting, which occurred in the early hours of Friday in front of a restaurant in Poitiers.
Among the injured is a 15-year-old who is reported to be in critical condition. Police sources indicate that two other teenagers, both aged 16, were also among those severely hurt.
Additional law enforcement will be “deployed” to the area on Friday, as stated by the prefect of the Vienne department via social media.
“We began with a shooting at a restaurant, which escalated into a brawl between rival gangs involving several hundred people. Reports suggest there were between 400 to 600 attendees, according to the prefect’s account,” Retailleau specified.
The minister expressed concern that the situation has reached a “tipping point,” as he prepares to travel to Rennes (west), where a five-year-old child remains in critical condition after being shot in the head last Saturday during a dispute related to drug trafficking.
