Shooting near Marseille's La Cayolle leaves man dead, another hurt

A gunman shot dead a 33-year-old man and seriously wounded a 32-year-old man on Monday night near the La Cayolle housing estate in southern Marseille, French marine firefighters said.

Marseille's marine fire brigade said it was called out in the evening and found the body of the 33-year-old man, who had gone into cardiac arrest, on the chemin de Sormiou. A second man, 32, was found nearby with multiple gunshot wounds on the avenue de Colgate, a brigade spokeswoman said.

The Marseille prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation for homicide and attempted homicide committed by an organised group, and for criminal association to commit organised crime, and handed the case to the organised-crime squad. The circumstances of the shooting have not yet been established, it said.

According to the newspaper La Provence, the two men were filming a rap music video when they were shot by attackers who fled the scene; a police source cited by the paper said it was not yet clear whether the shooting happened during or after the filming, or whether the two were connected in any other way.

Amine Kessaci, a Marseille deputy mayor who campaigns against drug trafficking, wrote on X: "Tonight, in La Cayolle, in the southern districts of Marseille, a 33-year-old man was killed. Another is seriously injured. Once again, our city has been struck by violence." He said the city must keep working, from its northern to its southern districts, so that every resident could live in peace and safety.

La Cayolle, close to the Calanques national park, has long been considered one of Marseille's main drug-dealing areas and is still regarded as a sensitive estate, despite a fall in recent years in the number of dealing points there. The attack is the latest shooting reported in the city's southern districts this year, and no arrests had been announced by Tuesday.