One dead in a shooting at Chemin-Bas in Nîmes: “It’s sad to say but it’s becoming commonplace”

La victime a été tuée par balles, ce mardi soir, au Chemin-Bas-d'Avignon Midi Libre – C.R.

Jean-Marie

A 39-year-old Gardois man was shot and killed this Tuesday, February 20, shortly after 9 p.m., in the Chemin-Bas-d'Avignon district of Nîmes. Three suspects are in police custody in Marseille.

A 39-year-old Gardois resident was shot and killed this Tuesday, February 8, around 9:30 p.m. in the Chemin-Bas-d'Avignon neighborhood in Nîmes… under the eyes of his child, aged 8, who was in the car. The vehicle was machine-gunned. The victim, who was on foot, was apparently returning to his car and was hit by three bullets. The child was not injured… physically. But it's almost a miracle.  The victim was a father and was also known to the police. To this day, we do not really know why he was near this place of deal. Originally from Remoulains, he lived more or less in Nîmes and was followed by the application judge. penalties. He had been convicted in cases of violence, weapons and drugs.

The attackers were apparently four aboard a car which left as quickly as it had arrived, towards Rodilhan where the vehicle was set on fire. Three suspects were arrested in Marseille and are in police custody (read below). Two of them come from the Arles region. The investigation was entrusted to the judicial police. Tuesday evening, Véronique Compan, the deputy prosecutor was at the scene of the tragedy and alongside the Montpellier PJ police officers. The file was to be sent to the Marseille Jirs this Wednesday.  

The weariness of the inhabitants of Chemin-Bas

This new shooting broke out near a drug deal location, not very far from the Georges-Bruguier school. Last Thursday, February 8, in the afternoon, hooded men armed with machine guns appeared in a small street, between the nursery school and the college. For security reasons, students from the Bruguier school had been confined to their classes.  A few days later, four young people, including two minors, hooded and armed were arrested by the police in the area of ​​the Nîmes-Courbessac aerodrome. They were imprisoned and indicted for possession of a weapon and participation in a criminal association. 

Gunshots at "Chem" ? The inhabitants will tell you: today, it is almost becoming a "banality", in this Nîmes district affected like others – in Pissevin or Mas-Mingue-  by an intense war for control of the drug trade. Nîmes, its neighborhoods and its drug trafficking are coveted by the locals and well beyond, by the Marseillais, drug traffickers  from Vaucluse, and even Parisians. And on the night of Monday to Tuesday, February 20, in Avignon, an 18-year-old young man was shot and killed in the Sources district.

" It's crazy and shocking. But it becomes commonplace and we can get used to the assassination of someone in our neighborhood, confides a resident. "Today we learned that someone was shot and killed. And the reactions are: Oh good! ¨No more", notes pharmacist Mohamed Darha, who has been based in Chemin-Bas-d'Avignon for around twenty years. The pharmacist can't wait, today, for the "urbanization renovation project" to be launched. A meeting took place a few hours before this tragedy, at the André-Malraux center. " We've been waiting for this renovation project for 20 years", recalls Mohamed Darha, a man respected and appreciated by patients and residents in Chemin-Bas. By summer, we should be relocated. The work has begun, hopes the pharmacist. " We, at the pharmacy, do a lot of socializing for you."

Meeting on avenue de Lattre-de-Tassigny, the residents express their weariness but also their concern. Most of them are aware of the rivalries and settling of scores between Gardois du Chem and Marseillais.

" And there are also rats…", continues this local resident, moving on in a rather surprising way, in two or three sentences, from the drama of last night , to daily life. " Yes, we are invaded by large rats", insists this resident who has lived for around fifty years in Chemin-Bas-d'Avignon&nbsp ;who deplores the movement of containers. 

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