The five-year-old boy wounded in the head by a gunshot on Saturday night near Rennes, during a chase linked to drug trafficking, remained between life and death on Monday, October 28, announced the prosecutor’s office, which opened a attempted murder investigation.
The boy’s father, who lives in Rennes, “They warned that a group of men were looking for him, they wanted to take him to a safe place with the child’s mother and hide there too”indicates the Rennes prosecutor, Frédéric Teillet, in a press release. “When he left his home, he realized that he was being followed by a vehicle whose occupants were hooded. Although he tried to escape from them, at least one of them opened fire several times on his vehicle, hitting the boy twice in the head. in the town of Pacé, northwest of Rennes, continues Teillet. “He underwent surgery on Sunday and then on Monday morning, his condition seems stabilized but the prognosis remains serious”underlines the Rennes prosecutor.
The prosecution stated on Sunday that the father and his son had just left the Maurepas district of Rennes, where bursts of gunfire had occurred early in the morning and where they had been seen. “a group of hooded men, one of whom carried a submachine gun-type firearm”. The father, 29 years old according to a police source, was known in court for drug trafficking.
The investigation has “allows us to establish links […] with drug trafficking in the Maurepas district »adds Mr. Teillet, who opened an investigation to “Attempted homicide by an organized gang and criminal association with a view to committing a crime”. The investigations are carried out by the investigation section and the investigation brigade of the gendarmerie, as well as the Division against organized and specialized crime (DCOS) of the Rennes police and the local section of the Office specialized in fight against drug trafficking (OFAST). . These services operate under the authority of the Interregional Jurisdiction specialized in the fight against organized crime (JIRS) of Rennes.
Announcement of visit of the Minister of the Interior
The CRS 82, specialized in urban violence, was deployed during the night from Sunday to Monday, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau. “to protect the residents from the drug scum that controls this neighborhood”declared in X.
On Monday morning, calm reigned in the alleys of the Maurepas neighborhood, where some vans and cars of the national police could be seen, journalists from Agence France-Presse noted. “For a time, the point of sale was right in front of the building entrance”says an employee who works at Maurepas. “And then we installed a surveillance camera right there. “So they moved there, a little further away.”said.
The fight against drug trafficking must be “a great national priority”declared on Monday the socialist mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré, wishing “a particularly organized fight” including a “National Anti-Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office”. “At the national level, we are collectively unprepared to confront increasingly dangerous organized crime.”He continued, using the expression of ” war “ to be carried out against drug trafficking used the day before by the Minister of the Interior.
On Monday afternoon, the new prefect of Brittany, Amaury de Saint-Quentin, went to the Maurepas district, where CRS 82 officials were present, an AFP journalist noted. This sector of Maurepas is “One of the critical points of drug trafficking in Rennes and on which we will organize a certain number of operations in the coming days and weeks to put an end to and therefore eradicate this trafficking”declared M. de Saint-Quentin. Questioned by a journalist, the prefect indicated that the Minister of the Interior “I should come to Rennes soon”without specifying date.
