The shooting that took place in the middle of the day on Sunday (November 1) is an illustration of an escalating violence in recent months, in an area where rival gangs are now clashing with heavy weapons. The inhabitants can no longer take it.
Panic, dread, horror. In the opinion of several observers, the urban guerrilla scene which took place on Sunday November 1 in broad daylight on the slab of the Grand Mail is a sign that a new course has been crossed.
In the ultraviolence that has plagued the Paillade district and, above all, the daily lives of its inhabitants for months or even years. The shooting took place in broad daylight, with several grouped shooters, hooded and masked, equipped with large-caliber automatic weapons, emptying their magazines and acting ... in full re-containment.
Stray bullets landed in a neighborhood children's room. The scene even unfolded when a few dozen yards away was a wild flea market. Thus creating a general panic, while the attacks were still in everyone's mind.
"You need a real sector police station"
"We must reinstall the police presence in Mosson", insists Yann Bastière, Montpellier police officer and representative of the SGP Police Unit union. Like Alliance, he called for reinforcements in Montpellier, and La Mosson in particular, "to dissuade" criminals.
"We see that the perpetrators of these shots can come on a Sunday at 1 pm, when the police station is closed, spray the area and leave gently," he said. This summer, SGP Police Unit wrote to the mayor but also to the deputies to mention a reinforcement of about thirty personnel, the 20 obtained thanks to the QRR having been largely absorbed by the reorganizations and the departures.
"The Mosson police station is an empty shell, we suggested to the mayor to ask for a real sector police station".
Turf war
Since New Year's Eve, the area whose residents like to talk about a city (25,000) have seen a staggering number of shootings. Seven in all, killing one, Ahmed A. 21, on February 25, 2020, was killed by a heavy gun flurry and many injured. Still in the same area.
Classified as Republican Reconquest Quarter (QRR) in 2018 as part of the daily security police (PSQ). Where about twenty personnel were assigned as reinforcements. Here, a turf war for the juicy drug market is played out between neighborhood bosses, between neighborhoods, between communities and sometimes with the help of teams from outside Montpellier. Even Marseillais.
The teams are assembled and disassembled according to the confusion, a debt, an ultimatum and it can burst
"There is a holding of the territory with variable geometry. The teams are assembled and dismantled according to the confusion, a debt, an ultimatum and it can burst. The confinement could reshuffle the cards", one confides a source policewoman. This war also affected other sectors of the city, such as the city of Gély or the city of Saint-Martin. Elias, another 21-year-old, was killed there on June 22, 2020. Weapons of war and drugs are regularly seized.
Kalashnikov fire was heard near the Grand Mall on December 31. The gunman, filmed there again at the foot of the tower, had sown panic and traumatized families in the front row. Two days later, rebelote. A week later, a vast security operation was organized, around forty police officers mobilized.
But the battle for which deal points to keep is not about to end. After Ahmed and Elias died, their parents organized a white march through the Paillade in August. The crowd had gathered for a long time on the slab of the Grand Mail which has already seen too many deaths.
At least three shooters wanted
Who are the people targeted by the shooters this Sunday, November 1? Hard to say at this point. Investigators from the Montpellier SRPJ heard on Monday the victim, a young man injured three times in one foot and one leg. He was taken to the CHU by friends. His vital prognosis was not engaged. She is known for "minor" delinquency according to our sources.
Investigators will need to determine his degree of involvement in this case. Numerous cartridge cases were found at the scene. "Several locations of firing starts" were noted according to the public prosecutor, Fabrice Belargent, "with the presence of three calibers: 9 mm, 5'56 and 11'45". In the aftermath of the events, the shooters were still wanted.
