A wedding celebration in northeastern France turned tragic when masked gunmen opened fire, killing one person and injuring five others. The attack took place at a reception hall in the city of Thionville overnight Saturday to Sunday. Around a hundred people were attending the wedding when the incident occurred.
Police sources reported that two individuals sustained serious injuries, with one in critical condition. The perpetrators of the shooting fled the scene immediately after the attack. According to a police source, the shooting occurred while some guests were outside the hall for a smoke break. “It was during a wedding,” the source said. “At a quarter past one in the morning, a group of people went outside to smoke in front of the hall, and then three heavily armed men arrived and opened fire in their direction.”
The assailants arrived in a 4×4 vehicle, possibly a BMW, but their origin remains unclear. Thionville is situated close to the borders of Luxembourg and Germany. Law enforcement officials suspect that a settling of scores related to drug trafficking was the motive behind the violence. “The wedding was not targeted as such, it was people who were at the wedding,” the source said.
The scene of the crime displayed a glass door riddled with bullet holes on Sunday morning. The incident comes just months after a similar shooting incident in the neighboring town of Villerupt, where five people were injured in a shootout between rival gangs at a drug dealing point in May 2023. Investigations are ongoing to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of the Thionville shooting.
