A 24-year-old man, known to the courts in particular for drug trafficking, was shot dead on Monday in a city in Marseille, AFP learned from police sources and the prosecutor’s office, confirming information from BFM Marseille Provence. An investigation into “intentional homicide by an organized gang and criminal association”, entrusted to the judicial police, was opened by the Marseille prosecutor’s office, the latter said in a press release.
“A gunshot in a stairwell”
On Monday, the police received “several calls reporting a gunshot in a stairwell” in the Cité des Oliviers, in the north of Marseille, two police sources told AFP. Arriving in the common areas of building C of this city, in the 13th arrondissement of Marseille, they found “a man on the ground, inanimate”, added one of the two police sources. The victim, “herself carrying a handgun”, was “hit by two impacts to the back of the head”, indicated the public prosecutor of Marseille, Nicolas Bessone.
Contacted by AFP, the firefighters, who intervened around 3:20 p.m., confirmed that they had not managed to revive the victim, who was declared dead on the spot. According to witnesses, “the perpetrators are two individuals each wearing a balaclava” who “were seen leaving the scene after the events”, underlined one of the police sources and the Marseille prosecutor. A rental vehicle, belonging to the victim, was found in the parking lot of a residential tower located less than a kilometer from the Cité des Oliviers, one of the police sources also reported.
The victim, “known to the police”
“The victim was known to the police and justice services for acts of theft, transfer of narcotics, concealment of theft and armed robbery. She was at the time of the facts on conditional release following her conviction on appeal in September 2021 by the Var Assize Court to the sentence of eight years’ imprisonment for armed robbery and detention in a meeting of an arms depot”, added the prosecution. The city of “Oliviers A”, in reference to one of the buildings in this complex, has long been considered one of the main points of sale of narcotics in the poor neighborhoods of the north of Marseille.
The last “narchomicide” recorded there took place in January 2022, a few months after the judicial police dismantled the network at the head of the lucrative drug trafficking sheltered by the city. Around fifty people were killed in 2023 in the war between rival gangs – first and foremost the “Yoda” and “DZ Mafia” clans – for the control of drug trafficking in France’s second city.
Since November, the pace of these assassinations has slowed and there have been none since the start of 2024 even if “the situation remains particularly fragile”, noted Monday Nicolas Bessone.