The mystery still hovers around the death of Mohamed, 27, in Marseille. The man is said to have died after being shot by LBD. But at this stage, there is nothing to reconstruct the facts.
In Marseille, vagueness still surrounds the death of Mohamed, 27, discovered lifeless in the heart of the Marseille city on the night of Saturday July 1 to Sunday July 2, 2023. Since the death of this man was pronounced at the hospital , there are many questions. Because nothing and no one could foresee such a tragedy. It is above all the report of the medical examiner who questions: this Uber Eats delivery man would have died following a “violent shock to the chest”, probably caused by a flashball-type projectile. At this stage, no footage showing the moment Mohamed was hit has been discovered. The only existing one allows you to see this native of Oran (Algeria) riding a scooter, stopping on the Cours Lieutaud, before collapsing on the ground. How could he have been the target of such a shot? And most importantly, why?
This tragedy occurred one evening of riots in Marseille, which took place in reaction to the death of young Nahel in Nanterre. Scenes of abuse and looting occurred in the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture, leading to the deployment of a large police force. Was Mohamed one of those thugs? Niet, says his wife. “My husband didn’t do anything wrong. Since he had a child, he stopped everything. He’s not the type that breaks. He didn’t do anything, he watched people, took pictures. That’s all he did,” she told RTL. “No, nothing to do, he has a child and his wife is pregnant! It’s kid stuff, not grown-up stuff,” a friend told Franceinfo.
But then, what was Mohamed doing that night in a neighborhood affected by the riots? His entourage says he was going to his mother, who would live on the course Lieutaud. For its part, the prosecution indicates “that it [is not] possible to determine if the victim had participated (in the riots, editor’s note) or even if she had been able to circulate in such an area.” And where in Marseilles was he hit? The place has not yet been determined but it seems to have happened not far from where his body was discovered since “the impact [caused] a cardiac arrest, and therefore death in a near time”.
Since the tragedy, shock and incomprehension have intertwined in the Old Port. The Marseille public prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation into the charge of fatal blows with the use or threat of a weapon and the IGPN is also investigating on its side. The findings of the autopsy do indeed tip the scales towards a police shooting, with law enforcement being equipped with weapons such as a flashball described in the medical examiner’s report.
The wife of the man who died in Marseille said she had “the video which proves that [her] husband did nothing” and the prosecution also believed that her husband was not part of the rioters, according to his statements. “In my opinion, it was the policeman who [him] shot him. He saw him filming him, he shot with a flash-ball”, also advanced the victim’s wife. Neither the prosecution nor the investigators gave more information on this point.
