One dead after gunmen storm French wedding
A man in his 30s has been killed and several others injured in a shooting at a Turkish wedding in north-east France, police have reported.
French media indicate that three armed, hooded men arrived at the reception venue in Thionville late Saturday night and began shooting at the guests.
According to police sources quoted by Le Figaro newspaper, the attackers came at 1:15 am local time to “settle scores between well-known gangs in Moselle.”
Among the injured is a pregnant woman, and three of the wounded are in critical condition at the nearby Bel-Air hospital, police said.
Approximately 100 people were celebrating at Eden Palace when the gunmen arrived in a 4×4 vehicle, as reported by French media, in the Lorraine region near the borders of Germany and Luxembourg.
“At a quarter past one in the morning, a group of people went outside to smoke in front of the hall, and then three heavily-armed men opened fire in their direction,” a police source told AFP.
The attackers reportedly used automatic weapons and shotguns.
Prosecutor Nancy Francois Capin-Dulhoste said in a statement that the men fired “several dozen times,” injuring four people between 25 and 50 years old. Emergency services arrived shortly after the attack.
ckers had already fled the scene.
Local newspaper Le Républicain Lorrain reports that police are investigating whether the vehicle came from Germany or Luxembourg – about 15km (9.3 miles) away.
The border region of Lorraine has often seen violent incidents linked to drug trafficking.
According to Le Parisien, the dead and the injured are known to the authorities for drug-related cases.
In May 2023, in the neighbouring town of Villerupt, a shooting between rival gangs left five people injured.
