A 27-year-old bride was killed when gunmen attacked a wedding party in a village in southeastern France, prosecutors said on Sunday. One of the assailants also died during the attack.
The attack also injured three other people, including a child, and shocked the tiny picturesque village of Goult.
According to a source close to the investigation, the violence could be connected to drug-related score-settling.
The newlyweds were leaving the party around 4:30 a.m. when they were approached by masked assailants who opened fire, according to the source.
The bride and one of the attackers were killed “in return,” according to Avignon prosecutor Florence Galtier, who did not provide any additional details.
According to previous reports, the attacker was run over by the bride and groom’s car.
Three individuals were injured. The 25-year-old groom and a 13-year-old passenger in the couple’s car sustained serious injuries.
Officials declined to say whether the child was related to the couple, but a source close to the case told the Sun that the 13-year-old was the newlyweds’ son.
According to the prosecutor, the attackers arrived by car with several weapons. They fled on foot following the attack.
The Avignon prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into “murder and attempted murder by an organized gang,” according to Le Figaro.
According to the police, 28 people were present in the village hall during the attack.
On Sunday morning, several police cars blocked access to the scene of the tragedy.
“I am angry. “I am outraged,” Goult Mayor Didier Perello told reporters.
Perello didn’t rule out the possibility of settling scores.
“I’m not ruling anything out. “Nothing,” he replied. “We’re close to towns, I won’t name them, where unfortunately, we’ve already seen this kind of thing before.”
Dozens of police officers and a helicopter have been dispatched to track down the gunmen.
According to the mayor, the couple booked the village hall in March.
“The village hall had been rented for a wedding by people who don’t live in the commune,” she said.
Guillaume Molinas, a 50-year-old restaurant owner, expressed concern that the tragedy would “give the village a bad name.”
“The last major incident in the village was 125 years ago,” he informed me.
Goult’s population was slightly more than 1,000 in 2022. The village is located in southeast France, about 50 miles north of Marseille, a port city plagued by drug-related deaths in recent years.
The French government has recently pledged to step up the fight against narcotics and drug-related crime.
