An individual opened fire on Saturday evening in this town of Meurthe-et-Moselle, injuring five, including three seriously. The suspect was arrested on Monday morning.
Two days after the shooting which left five injured, including three seriously, in Villerupt (Meurthe-et-Moselle), the man suspected of being the perpetrator was arrested on Monday morning.
• A hooded man opened fire in the city center
Saturday, early evening, a hooded man opened fire in downtown Villerupt and injured five before fleeing in a vehicle.
“The author would have presented himself on foot at the scene of the events, before firing and fleeing in a vehicle”, said this Monday morning the Nancy prosecutor François Capin-Dulhoste, in charge of the investigation.
A security perimeter was erected at the foot of a six-storey building and traces of blood were visible on the ground. In total, “20 9-millimeter cases” were found, “which makes one think of a submachine gun”, he added, without giving further details on the weapon used which is “in the process of being identification”.
Contrary to what was initially announced by local authorities, there was “only one shooting scene”, and “nothing in Audun-le-Tiche”, a neighboring town located in Moselle, said Saturday the prosecutor of the republic of Val-de-Briey, before divesting herself in favor of the parquet floor of Nancy, because of her lack of competence for this type of facts.
A flagrant investigation was opened and entrusted to the Territorial Directorate of the Metz Judicial Police.
• The main suspect arrested
An individual suspected of being the perpetrator was arrested on Monday morning in the town of Villerupt.
“He was arrested at 6:05 am, near the home of his two brothers”, and placed in police custody, said the public prosecutor of Nancy.
According to police sources, the suspect is a repeat offender with a heavy criminal record. Born in 1985, he has already been the subject of dozens of convictions.
“Since he was 16, he has only been back and forth in prison,” said a source familiar with the matter. “He’s a very well-known person here.”
In October, he had hit a vehicle of the Metz intervention section after refusing to comply, for which he had been sentenced to prison. He had been released recently.
He comes from a family of five brothers, four of whom are known to the authorities for cases of theft, violence and various trafficking. The shooting may have been carried out in retaliation for the humiliation recently suffered by a member of the siblings.
• Investigators want to determine if he was alone at the time
If only one individual has so far been arrested, the investigations will continue and “attempt to determine if he was alone” at the time of the events, underlined François Capin-Dulhoste.
“The only shooter is almost constant, but the only one in question is another question,” he added, wondering in particular about the presence of a possible driver by his side.
On Sunday, a charred vehicle, “considered the escape vehicle”, was found in Fameck (Moselle), about thirty kilometers from Villerupt.
• Five injured, three seriously
A total of five people were injured in the shooting, three of them seriously. Among them is a 17-year-old Luxembourg miner who was shot in the head. He was operated on the night of Saturday to Sunday. On BFMTV, his mother described him as a “good kid, appreciated by everyone” in the town and who has nothing to do with drug trafficking.
A 20-year-old Frenchman was also injured in the chest, “near the heart”, according to the prosecutor. It is presented as “non-operable”. Finally a 30-year-old Algerian was shot in the hip.
Two other people were less seriously affected: a 19-year-old Portuguese man and a 20-year-old man who was injured in the chest and arm.
• The location of the shooting is a “deal point”
The shooting occurred about seven kilometers from the Luxembourg border, in the center of Villerupt, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, not far from a police station.
The place of the facts is also “a point of deal”, according to local elected officials, and they could therefore be linked to drug trafficking. Indeed, on site BFMTV was able to see that the price of narcotics is written directly on the walls.
“Unfortunately, we expected it, (…) it is a point of deal identified for years”, reacted this Monday the PCF mayor of Villerupt Pierrick Spizak to our microphone.
Over the weekend, several local elected officials assured, like Pierrick Spizak, that they had called for additional security means in the face of the amplification of trafficking and violence, particularly in connection with Belgium and Luxembourg.
The mayor of the city also reminded AFP that the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin had traveled to his town in March 2021.
“Since then, the situation has worsened with regard to the police station. We have 79 agents excluding administrative staff, whereas two years ago the Ministry of the Interior was to increase the number of staff to 104, which makes a difference of 25 agents”, counted the elected official, fearing that the next major sporting events organized in France would reduce the local national police force.
He also indicated that between “11,000 and 12,000 complaints” are not currently being processed “for lack of resources”. “What can we do? A new ministerial visit?” he wondered.
On May 10, Gerald Darmanin announced, during a trip to Yvelines, the deployment of 500 additional police officers in medium-sized towns from next September.
