Laurent Nuñez: Interior Minister Vows to Fight Drug Trafficking After Nantes Shooting
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez affirmed on Friday his “determination” to “win” the “war” against drug trafficking following the death of a 15-year-old teenager in Nantes in a shooting “clearly linked to the drug trade.”
“We are conducting this war with determination and we will not give up. Yes, the fight is complicated but we will not lose this war,” the minister emphasized, speaking from the site of the shooting that occurred Thursday evening, where he arrived late in the morning.
According to Laurent Nuñez, the toll of the tragedy in the working-class neighborhood of Port-Boyer, north of Nantes, stands at one young person deceased and two others seriously injured.
The two hospitalized injured individuals, boys aged 13 and 14, are “now out of danger,” stated Nantes’ public prosecutor Antoine Leroy.
A psychological support team from the emergency medical service (Samu) has been set up in the neighborhood, AFP reported.
On Thursday around 7:30pm, two individuals wearing masks arrived and opened fire “somewhat blindly” on a group of young teenagers in this neighborhood with high-rise buildings surrounded by greenery along a river, the minister recalled.
While the motives for the shooting at this drug dealing point are “very likely linked” to drug trafficking, Laurent Nuñez stressed that there was nothing indicating that the targeted teenagers “and especially” the deceased were involved in the trade.
This drug dealing spot is “highly coveted,” with police arresting five people in March, and destabilizing territories can create territorial wars, the minister explained, drawing parallels with recent events in Nice and near Lyon.
In Nice on May 11, a man fired bursts of bullets towards a café and a candy store, killing two family fathers aged 57 and 39. He also injured six people, three gravely.
That same day, in Décines-Charpieu near Lyon, an “intimidation” fire led to the death of three individuals “who had nothing to do with drug trafficking,” Mr. Nuñez pointed out.
“Very Scary”
“There are tragedies that happen, but we must continue to destabilize, dismantle networks. What happened yesterday reinforces our determination to continue this constant fight against drug trafficking,” he declared after speaking with residents and Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland.
Laurent Nuñez mentioned the opening in Nantes of a branch of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Office (Ofast) and more broadly, the reinforcement of investigative resources against organized crime, with an additional 300 investigators in 2026, as well as measures targeting drug consumers such as an increase in fixed fines from 200 to 500 euros.
On Friday, bullet impacts were still visible on the entrance door of the building where the shots were fired, with a police truck parked in front.
An apartment resident described how she found one of the shot adolescents “not breathing anymore,” saying she thought of him “all night.”
Another neighbor is considering leaving the neighborhood where she grew up. Her 10-year-old son admitted to being “very scared” and no longer wants to sleep anywhere but beside his mother since the gunfire was first heard in the neighborhood several weeks ago.
Drug trafficking has been “gradually unfolding,” testified Cécile, a sexagenarian who has lived on Pornichet Street “since 1995.”
“For a few years and especially in recent months, it’s clear that it’s dangerous… It’s really scary for everyone,” she added, noting the presence of different individuals recently, “older ones, masked, all dressed in black.”
For the socialist mayor of Nantes, who spoke with the mother of the deceased teenager and offered her “absolute support,” “when a 15-year-old loses his life, it’s unbearable for a city.”
The drug market turnover in France was estimated at 6.8 billion euros in 2023, three times more than in 2010, according to the interministerial mission to combat drugs and addictive behaviors (Mildeca).
