three men shot dead

Three young men were shot dead early Sunday morning in a district east of Marseille, we learned from firefighters and police sources.

Unknown persons driving by car opened fire on another vehicle in which were five young men, according to the police source. The vehicle was targeted by Kalashnikov fire.

The firefighters, who intervened shortly before 6 a.m., pronounced the death of the three victims on the spot, men aged around 25 years.

Two other occupants of the car targeted by the shots managed to escape.

According BFM TVthe shooting took place around 5:40 am, at the exit of a nightclub in the XI^e arrondissement. The victims would be from the city of Félix Pyat.

Car found burnt out

The attackers were able to leave the scene in their vehicle. The firefighters said they intervened a little later for a burning car found not far from the place of the attack, without it being immediately clear if it was that of the attackers.

The police chief of Bouches-du-Rhône, Frédérique Camilleri, went to the scene of this new shooting, while the settling of scores on the background of drug trafficking are on the rise in the second city of France.

The judicial police have been seized of the investigation.

Homicides linked to drug trafficking have multiplied in recent months in the second city of France, especially in the XIV^e district, against a backdrop of turf wars and the dynamics of a “vendetta”, according to the prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens, between drug traffickers.

The year 2022 had already been particularly deadly in the Bouches-du-Rhône, with 32 victims of organized gang homicides, including 28 in Marseille, according to figures from the prosecution. And 2023 promises to be even bloodier, with the number of victims reaching nearly 20 since 1^is January.