A young man and a woman in their twenties lost their lives, while three others sustained injuries in a late-night shooting incident in the coastal city of Marseille, located in southern France along the Mediterranean coast, according to prosecutors and Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Nicolas Besson, the city’s prosecutor, stated on Sunday, “The five individuals were in their car in a McDonald’s parking lot when a vehicle approached them. The driver and front-seat passenger were fatally shot with a Kalashnikov rifle.”
Two men and a woman in the back seat were wounded, with two of them in critical condition, according to prosecutors.
The three male victims had previous criminal records, with police records linking them to drug trafficking and violent incidents in the southern Toulon area, as per Besson’s statement. The female victim had no criminal record.
The shooting occurred just before 11 PM local time in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille, one of the city’s poorest areas and the second-largest in France.
Police are investigating the incident as a gang-related homicide and attempted murder.
One of the injured, a 29-year-old man who was shot in the chest, remains in critical condition, while the female victim lost her thumb. The third injured individual sustained minor injuries.
Police discovered 7.62mm ammunition casings at the scene, indicating the use of Kalashnikov rifles.
A vehicle believed to belong to the shooters was found burned in a nearby location, according to prosecutors.
In recent years, Marseille has witnessed an increase in violence associated with drug trafficking, with more than 45 individuals losing their lives in related incidents in the city this year.
