Overview
- The victim was killed around 2:30 p.m. on November 13 in Marseille’s 4th arrondissement when a passenger on a motorcycle opened fire as he sat in a car, with several 9 mm shell casings recovered at the scene.
- Multiple outlets identify the victim as Mehdi (also reported as Mohamed) Kessaci, the younger brother of anti-narcotics activist Amine Kessaci, and officials say he had no criminal record and was preparing to join the police.
- The Marseille prosecutor opened an investigation for organized murder and criminal conspiracy, and two suspects on the motorcycle remain at large.
- Investigators found a burned motorcycle believed to be linked to the attack, and prosecutors say an intimidation-style assassination aimed at Amine Kessaci is not excluded.
- Amine Kessaci had been under police protection following threats after publishing a book this fall, and his family previously lost a brother, Brahim, in a 2020 narcotics-related killing as Marseille counts about 14 such murders in 2025.