Gunmen on electric motorbikes opened fire on a group of young people on Avenue Winston-Churchill in Toulouse early on Saturday, firing nearly 30 rounds.
No injuries were reported immediately after the shooting at around 4:30 a.m. in the Reynerie neighborhood, but several parked vehicles in the area were struck by bullets.
Witnesses heard a long series of detonations before the shooters fled the scene on their electric motorbikes. Ongoing police examinations aim to reconstruct the exact sequence of events and determine how many weapons were fired.
Officers recovering evidence from the street found shell casings of multiple calibres, including 9 mm ammunition and 7.62 mm rounds, a calibre commonly associated with military weapons.
The investigation has been entrusted to officers from the Division of Organized and Specialized Criminality, known as DCOS. Investigators are working to identify the attackers, determine who was targeted, and establish the motive behind the violence.
Overnight shootings in Bagatelle and Bellefontaine
The incident on Avenue Winston-Churchill followed two other shooting episodes in the area within hours. Shortly before midnight on Friday, a single gunman on an electric scooter opened fire on Rue du Lot in the Bagatelle district.
A 31-year-old Algerian man was shot in the legs and taken to the hospital in non-life-threatening condition. A 32-year-old man who was with him suffered minor injuries, likely caused by a ricocheting projectile.
Police stated that both victims were known to law enforcement and reportedly operated around a drug dealing location in the neighborhood.
A third incident occurred at around 5:20 a.m. on Saturday on Chemin de Lestang in Bellefontaine, where police discovered about 15 large-calibre shell casings. A man later reported to officers that he had been shot at while riding a scooter, though no injuries were found at the scene.
A police source noted that shooting incidents had been recurring across the area for several nights.
Investigation into drug trafficking and turf warfare
Police have not established a formal link between the three shooting scenes, but investigators are examining their temporal and geographical proximity to identify potential connections.
Detectives are also working to confirm whether narcotics trafficking is the primary driver of the armed incidents.
Shootings have occurred frequently for months between Bellefontaine and La Reynerie. The two neighboring districts in the Mirail sector of Toulouse remain embroiled in an ongoing territorial war between rival groups.
Toulouse is the departmental capital of Haute-Garonne in southwestern France. The Mirail housing complex, constructed in the 1960s, encompasses several high-density residential neighborhoods including La Reynerie and Bellefontaine, where specialized police units frequently conduct anti-narcotics operations.
