A teenager and four other people were wounded in a shooting in western France on Thursday, French media reported.
Local authorities have requested police reinforcements in the city, and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said up to 600 people were involved in the incident. The incident was linked to drug trafficking, the Minister also said.
According to media reports, a 15-year-old was injured and shot in the head, his life is in danger. Two other 16-year-olds are also injured.
The shooting happened in a Poitiers neighbourhood known for drug trafficking. The shots were fired from the window of a vehicle, which then fled the scene, police said. When police arrived at the scene, they found five people with gunshot wounds and a dozen bullet holes in the facade of a neighbouring restaurant.
Law enforcers were then attacked by local youths. A brawl involving several hundred people broke out.
Retailleau called the incident a worrying sign of escalating drug-related violence. Shortly before last week’s shooting in the northwestern city of Rennes, a shooting that left a five-year-old boy dead. Retailleau also said:
Trafficking gangs today have no limits. These shootouts are not in Latin America, they are in Rennes, in Poitiers, in once-tranquil western France. We have a choice between general mobilisation or the Mexicanisation of the country.
Local MP Sacha Houlié said the violence was “a symptom of the gangrene that is developing as the drug trade grows” and promised that police reinforcements would arrive in the city on Friday to “ensure calm and guarantee public order.”
Drug-related violence in France is largely associated with Marseille, where there have been 17 drug-related murders this year and where last month a 14-year-old boy was allegedly hired to carry out a revenge killing.
In August, a 10-year-old boy travelling in a car with his uncle was shot dead in the southern city of Nîmes in alleged drug-related violence. Police believe the killing was a mistake, as the car was similar to one used in a previous murder.
