what do we know about the victim, what leads for the investigation?

After the death of a man in the middle of Paris on Wednesday May 24, the investigation begins. One track is particularly privileged.

[Mis à jour le 25 mai 2023 à 9h59] The post-crash investigation. The Paris criminal brigade has been working since Wednesday, May 24, on the death of a man, killed in the middle of the afternoon in Paris, in the chic 8th arrondissement, boulevard de Courcelles. Suddenly, four armed individuals burst onto this usually quiet artery of the capital on their scooters. Their target: a real estate agent working in the area. The man is coldly shot after several bullets were fired. The assailants then fled and have, at this time, still not been found by the police. However, the investigators are already exploiting a track that seems to them the most credible: that of a settling of accounts.

This is in particular what favors a legal source and a police source, quoted by Le Figaro, but also the mayor of the 8th arrondissement, Jeanne d’Hauteserre, and that of the neighboring 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard. “It’s the wild west”, dropped the first to our colleagues from Parisian denouncing the fact that “the settlements of accounts are done in broad daylight”.

Who is the dead victim in the shooting?

An intuition born of the elements collected on the victim. The man targeted by the shooters worked on Boulevard Courcelles and is described as a real estate agent by various media, including BFM-TV And The Parisian. Aged 31, Ruben A. would have grown up in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Married and father of a young daughter, he worked for ten years in the JAC Immobilier agency run by his father.

However, according to Le Figaro And The Parisian, the man was already known to the police “for various acts of violence and common law.” Elements that direct the investigation towards the track of the settlement of accounts. However, this liability never emerges in the testimonies of relatives collected by the various media. The victim is presented as “a very nice man”, good living “who liked to go out in the evening, book good restaurants, also dance” and who could be noticed by his “high verb”.

What do we know about the shooting that broke out on Boulevard de Courcelles in Paris?

Guerrilla scene in the heart of Paris. On Wednesday May 24, 2023, around 3 p.m., two powerful two-wheelers, including a blue Yamaha scooter, burst onto Boulevard de Courcelles. In their sights, the real estate agency JAC Immobilier, located at number 108, and more particularly a man, a certain Ruben A., 31 years old. Son of the owner of the agency and exercising himself within the company for ten years, the 30-something was clearly targeted. Between three and four shots would have sounded, according to various witnesses including The Parisian echoes. “We heard several shots, it sounded like a settling of scores. The whole neighborhood is cordoned off, a lot of police and the Samu are on the spot”, testified to the daily newspaper of the capital a man working in a nearby restaurant, marked by the speed of the intervention: “It lasted barely 40 seconds.”

During the shooting, Ruben A., husband and father of a young girl, allegedly tried to take shelter, in vain, in a street shop, at number 67, between Place des Ternes and Parc Monceau. Passers-by on the spot at the time of the shooting also found refuge in the various shops on the street. No one appears to have been injured except for the man targeted by the shots, according to franceinfo. Very quickly, a large police and rescue system was deployed in the neighborhood, which was cordoned off. The victim was quickly taken care of before succumbing to his injuries.

The shots were reportedly fired by four individuals. The shooters would have chased the victim and one of them would have gone to the real estate agency where the target worked. After shooting several times, they would have fled, according to police details collected by The Parisian. The two two-wheeled vehicles were found covered with fire extinguisher powder in the Hauts-de-Seine, in Châtenay-Malabry, shortly after the tragedy. Still according to information from Parisianthe individuals currently wanted are said to have fled in a car waiting for them at the place where the two-wheelers were abandoned.