Jean-Luc Boujon
modified to
7:34 p.m., November 20, 2023
A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death and two men seriously injured on the night of Saturday to Sunday during a brawl on the sidelines of a festival in a village in Drôme. A group of at least ten people went in the middle of the night to Crépol, a village 20 km north of Romans-sur-Isère and where a “private evening” was held in the village hall of the common. 18 people were reportedly injured. Two days later, residents are still in shock.
“They came with knives, paving stones”
The small village of 500 inhabitants is still in shock. For this resident, there was a desire to do harm on the part of these young people. “They waited until the end of the ball until the people were outside and then they started killing people. That’s what happened. They came with knives, paving stones. I’m sorry, they were people who came to kill other people,” she says.
“We are not in a city, we are in the countryside”
The investigation has only just begun. But the Valence prosecutor accredits this thesis of an expedition planned by these young people who came in several cars from Romans-sur-Isère, coming from the sensitive Monnaie district, to possibly settle a dispute. A theory confirmed by Diego, a friend of the victim. “Taking out a blade to stab a 16-year-old kid in the heart and neck, you really have to want it. They came armed and in an organized group for a specific purpose,” testifies the teenager.
In the village, astonishment gives way to anger. “It’s a shame. To be confronted with this in a village, in the countryside, it’s not possible. What do we do? We stop the bullets. We’re not in a city, we are in the countryside. I don’t know if you saw around you, it’s just fields, everyone knows each other. It’s horrible, it shocked everyone”, testifies Paul, resident of Crépol . In front of the village hall where the fight took place, the residents left a few candles and a choir in tribute to the deceased young man.
Two blades found on site
Members of the Grenoble research section continue their research to identify the attackers. All day long, they heard from several witnesses present during the tragedy as well as neighbors from the village hall where the ball was held. In addition to these testimonies, investigators hope to take advantage of the surveillance cameras of the convenience store located near the path leading to the village hall. Thanks to these images, they hope to be able to identify the vehicles with which the attackers went to the scene. Two knives with 25 cm blades were found on site.