A 12-year-old boy was seriously injured by several bullets at a drug deal point in Grenoble, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, we learned from a police source. His attackers fled.
If the scenario of a shooting linked to drug trafficking was confirmed, this teenager would be among the youngest targeted in recent years. His vital prognosis was still in jeopardy in the middle of the afternoon, according to the prosecution.
The Chorier-Berriat district, where the tragedy occurred in the west of the Isère capital, had been the scene of several shootings in 2024, but, since January, the prefecture and public prosecutor’s office have highlighted an improvement in the fight against drug banditry.
Around 3:00 a.m., residents alerted the police to gunshots followed by the roar of a fleeing vehicle, a police source told AFP. “I just heard five shots” of gunshots, Mila Poignard, a student from the neighborhood, testified for AFP. “And someone was shouting, ‘No, stop, stop!’, and then nothing,” she remembers.
Hit by one bullet in the back and two in the legs, the young victim in a coma was to be operated on in the afternoon, Grenoble deputy prosecutor François Touret de Coucy told the press. Initially, it was indicated that he had been injured by at least four bullets. Nine 9 mm bullet cases were found on site.
Multiple identities
The fingerprints of the teenager, who “would be an unaccompanied minor of North African origin”, “appear under several identities, including one for which he was summoned before the children’s judge on December 10 for possession and supply or transfer of narcotics”, but he was previously “not known to the justice system”, details the magistrate.
He had recently run away from an establishment in the Department of Isère where he was staying, continues Mr. Touret de Coucy. According to a source close to the case, he is of Algerian origin. An investigation into “attempted murder” has been entrusted to the judicial police and the perpetrators have not yet been identified.
“Worse and worse”
In Chorier-Berriat, the wastelands and old factory buildings that bear witness to the district’s industrial past have been converted into modern buildings, with bars popular with young people and restaurants. “We came here ten years ago, it wasn’t like that at all. Now, it’s getting worse and worse, (…) frankly, it’s not very reassuring,” continues Mila, the student.
A police source indicated that the shooting took place “at a deal point”, but residents assured AFP that there was none at this location near a pedestrian alley leading to a school. Nearby, however, other areas are known to have drug outlets.
Settling of scores by firearms between groups of traffickers is not uncommon in Grenoble and some of its suburbs. In 2024, Place Saint-Bruno, in the heart of Chorier-Berriat, was the scene of several shootings, with the authorities citing a “gang war”.
The prefect of Isère Catherine Séguin welcomed in September, alongside Grenoble prosecutor Etienne Manteaux, a significant drop in firearm attacks in the Isère metropolis: 11 since the start of 2025, including one assassination, compared to 34 in 2024, which left seven dead.
With 28 deal points recorded in the agglomeration in September compared to 41 in 2023, Ms. Séguin also praised the merits of the “harassment policy” of the police against drug trafficking.
“Little hands”
According to the Interministerial Mission to Combat Drugs and Addictive Behavior (Mildeca), in 2024 in France, 61% of those convicted for drug-related offenses were aged 15 to 25 and nearly 10,000 minors were involved in drug trafficking cases.
The average age of the “little hands” employed by criminal networks is around 15-16 years old with an increased use of very young minors, sometimes aged ten, underlines Mildeca.
Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon assured Sunday on BFMTV that the “fight against deal points and drug trafficking” was a “priority” and that the State “will not weaken”.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
