A 39-year-old man was shot dead Tuesday evening in Nîmes. The shooter(s) fled and are actively being sought.

On the evening of Tuesday, February 20, a 39-year-old man was shot and killed in Nîmes (Gard). When help arrived, the man was next to his vehicle, on the sidewalk, seriously injured with impacts to his back. His death was noted a few minutes later according to information from LCI-TF1. The events took place in the Chemin Bas district of Avignon, known for its drug trafficking.

In the car was the victim’s 8-year-old son. Safe and sound, the very shocked child was transported to hospital where his mother joined him. He said he saw his father walking toward the car and being shot. For his part, the man was known unfavorably to the police. 5.56mm caliber shell casings were found at the scene.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the perpetrator(s) of the shooting fled shortly after the incident in a vehicle. In the evening, a similar vehicle was found burned in the town of Rodilhan, near Nîmes. An investigation has been opened by the Nîmes public prosecutor’s office and will have to determine whether it is the same car as that observed after the attack. The judicial police are in charge of the investigations.

According to information from France Bleu Gard Lozère, the weapon used to kill the man in his forties was a Kalashnikov. The media indicates that three individuals were arrested, “but the link with the shooters has not been established.” In the city, this sector of the Portal is well known for drug trafficking which remains well established in the area despite the initiatives of the municipality of Nîmes aimed at buying garages “which have become crossroads for vast drug trafficking” to raze them . In recent years, several anti-narcotics and weapons operations have been carried out in this sector.