Two killed in shooting in France’s Marseille

MARSEILLE — A woman and a man, both in their twenties, were killed in a shooting late Saturday in French Mediterranean city Marseille and three others hurt, prosecutors told AFP.

“The five people were in their car in the car park of a McDonald’s when a vehicle pulled up alongside, killing the 22-year-old male driver and the 25-year old female front passenger with bursts of fire from a Kalashnikov” assault rifle, the city’s Chief Prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said on Sunday.

Of the three wounded passengers in the rear — two men and one woman — two were seriously hurt, they added.

All three men in the car were known to police for involvement in the drug trade and violence in the region around the southern city of Toulon, Bessone said, while the women had no criminal record.

“The profile of these individuals allows us to see we are in the context of ‘narcohomicides’... which may have a very strong link to drug trafficking,” Bessone later told a press conference.

The shooting took place just before 11:00pm (22:00 GMT) in Marseille’s 16th district, one of the poorest areas of France’s second-largest city.

Police are investigating for murder and attempted murder as part of a criminal gang.

One of the wounded men, a 29-year-old struck in the chest by bullets, had been in danger for his life but is now “doing better”, Bessone told reporters.

Meanwhile, the woman lost her thumb and the third rear passenger, a 19-year-old man, received only light injuries.

Police found shell casings from the 7.62 millimetre ammunition used in Kalashnikov rifles at the scene.

A vehicle that “likely” belonged to the shooters was found burned out close to the site of the attack, prosecutors said.

Marseille has in recent years seen mounting violence related to trade in illegal drugs.

More than 45 people have been killed in related violence in the city in this year alone.