A 43-year-old woman has been shot dead in France after being caught in the middle of a gunfight between rival drug gangs. The horrific incident reportedly took place on Wednesday evening on a housing estate in the 14th arrondissement of Marseille. The victim’s relatives gathered the following morning at the scene of the shooting in the Vieux-Moulin housing development, where the residents remain deeply shaken.
Several people are believed to have opened fire during a violent turf war, hitting the woman who was with her daughter, 19, in the process.
Francetvinfo reports the mother was shot in the head and died shortly after being taken to hospital.
The victim was not known to police.
Meanwhile, the car of the perpetrators was later found burnt out, a few metres away from the scene.
An investigation has been opened and handed over to the Marseille judicial police.
Rudy Manna said: “Everything suggests that she is a collateral victim (…) of these settling of scores, of these incessant shootings”
In total, 18 people have been killed in Marseille in violence related to drug dealing since the start of the year.
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The police are particularly concerned about the increase in the number of innocent victims caught up in settling scores related to drug trafficking.
Until recently, such incidents were rare. However, there has been a rise in the number of collateral victims, including a 63-year-old man who was killed in Busserine in April and a 15-year-old boy who was shot in the Joliette district a few days ago.
According to Rudy Manna, a member of the Alliance union, the recent escalation in violence is due to the fact that there are “no longer any codes or limits” among drug traffickers, who are increasingly recruiting children to carry out violent acts.
He believes that the police response alone will not be enough to address the problem of extreme violence resulting from vendettas related to drug trafficking.
“If we think that the police alone will solve these problems, we are mistaken.
“We need everyone to get involved and stop hiding behind the police, who can’t deal with young people who don’t go to school, their parents who abandon them, the traffickers, the sanctions on trafficking and consumers.
“We need prevention, not the army. This is why the police need to work with the national education system and neighbourhood associations, which need to get back on the street.
“Politicians need to get involved.”
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega
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