Overview
- At about 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Marseille’s 4th arrondissement, a passenger on a motorcycle fired multiple shots into a 20-year-old seated in his car near the Dôme concert hall, with several 9 mm casings recovered.
- The victim, identified by multiple outlets as Mehdi (Mohamed) Kessaci, was unknown to police and justice and reportedly aimed to join the police.
- Marseille’s prosecutor opened an inquiry for organized murder and criminal conspiracy, investigators found a burned motorcycle believed linked to the attack, and the two suspects remain at large.
- Prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said a killing intended as a warning is not excluded, and sources say Amine Kessaci had police protection after threats tied to a recent book on narcotrafficking.
- Mayor Benoît Payan cautioned that confirmation of an intimidation motive would mark a dangerous escalation as authorities confront a year with 14 drug-related killings in the Bouches-du-Rhône.