They took up positions on Sunday evening all around the towers, called in as reinforcements to secure the Maurepas district in Rennes. After the shooting in which a 5-year-old child was seriously injured by gunshots to the head, CRS 82, a new company specializing in urban violence, was deployed in this working-class neighborhood which has been facing an outbreak of violence for several months against a backdrop of drug trafficking. “I asked for the CRS 82 to be sent to protect the residents from the drug dealers who control the neighborhood,” announced Sunday on X Bruno Retailleau. “The gangrene of drug trafficking is rotting entire neighborhoods throughout the country,” added the Minister of the Interior. The war we must wage must be total.”
The day before, bursts of gunfire were heard in the morning near the Gros Chêne metro station, near well-known deal points. A group of hooded men, one of whom was carrying a submachine gun type firearm, was seen in the neighborhood before the Raid’s intervention. This resulted in “around twenty arrests which only gave rise to identity checks, with the exception of one person placed in police custody,” Jean-Marie Blin, deputy prosecutor, said on Sunday. of the Republic of Rennes.
The child always between life and death
After this new settling of scores, the violence reached another milestone a few hours later. While driving in the car with his father, a five-year-old child was hit by two shots, one in the head and the other in the cheek, Saturday evening in Pacé west of Rennes. Seriously injured, his vital prognosis was still in jeopardy on Sunday evening. A little earlier, the father had left the Maurepas district to take the child to his mother. His car was then followed by another vehicle for several kilometers before the occupants, hooded, opened fire with an automatic weapon.
Two shots hit the boy who was in the back of the vehicle and four 7.62 caliber ammunition casings were discovered on site by investigators. The boy’s 29-year-old father was not injured in the shooting. According to a source close to the case, he is already well known to the courts for drug trafficking.
The mayor calls for “a global response”
Interviewed on Sunday by West Francethe mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré spoke of her “stunnedness” and her “astonishment” after this tragedy. “Which mayor today can say that he is spared from the violence of drug traffickers? », Adds the elected official, calling for “a global response” to fight against drug trafficking “like that which was made to fight against terrorism”.
This Monday morning, Nathalie Appéré must also meet the new prefect Amaury de Saint-Quentin for her official assumption of duty. “The first question I will ask him will be that of the police force in Rennes,” said the mayor. We need to create rapid reinsurance.” Bruno Retailleau also assured on X that the new regional prefect “will be responsible for immediately leading this war”.
