Shooting injures five people and triggers mass brawl

A drug-trafficking-related shooting in the western French city of Poitiers escalated into a brawl Thursday evening that may have involved up to 600 people, French authorities say.

A drive-by shooting at a restaurant in the city left five people seriously injured, including a 15-year-old boy who was in critical condition after being shot in the head, police sources told AFP.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau described the incident as an alarming sign of the escalation of drug-related violence in the country.

It follows a shooting in the northwestern city of Rennes last week in which a five-year-old boy was killed.

“These shootings are not happening in South America, but in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this part of western France that was once known for its calm,” Retailleau told broadcaster BFMTV.

“We are at a turning point and the choice we have today is between general mobilization or the Mexicanization of the country,” he said, alluding to Mexico's widespread problems with street crime and violence from drug cartels.

The mayor of Poitiers called it “a new episode of violence that is unacceptable for the district.”

Shots were fired from a passing car, injuring several young people, police sources said.

Two 16-year-olds were treated for minor injuries.

Images from the crime scene in Place Coimbra, a district known for drug-related crime, showed the restaurant's facade riddled with bullet holes.

According to police, the shooting then sparked fighting between rival gang groups in the area.

“Tensions arose between the groups, requiring the intervention of the police and gendarmerie,” Vienne regional police said in a statement.

According to Retailleau, there were “400 to 600” people at the scene, but it is not clear how many of those were directly involved.

He was scheduled to visit Rennes, the capital of Brittany, on Friday after the Oct. 26 shooting in which a five-year-old boy sitting in a car was shot in the head. Authorities confirmed the shooting was also drug-related.

For a long time it was assumed that the drug trade in France was concentrated in the southern port city of Marseille at least 17 drug-related murders have been reported since the beginning of the year.

But researchers say the influence of the drug trade in France has increased in recent years spread beyond the main centers of Marseille and Paris to medium-sized cities and even rural areas.