According to investigators, it was shortly after 6pm on Saturday 13 May 2023 when a masked and gloved man, armed with a submachine gun, arrived under the entrance archway of a residential building known to house a drug dealing point in Villerupt’s town centre. The town, home to around 10,000 residents, lies close to the Luxembourg border.
Around ten people were present at the scene. The man opened fire before fleeing in a vehicle. He was arrested two days later. Investigators recovered around 20 spent 9mm cartridge cases at the scene.
Four men aged between 17 and 20 and a 30-year-old woman were injured. The youngest victim, a 17-year-old boy, was shot in the head. His lawyer, Thomas Kremser, told Agence France-Presse that the teenager, now an adult, intends to explain during the trial that he had been at a football match and ended up with friends in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is now confined to a wheelchair and wants to be fully recognised as a victim in the proceedings, Kremser stated.
The defendant, Abdelkrim Bellot, is appearing before the assize court until Friday and faces a possible life sentence. During the investigation, he admitted the facts and said the shooting was carried out in retaliation for the recent humiliation of one of his brothers, an incident that had been filmed and shared on social media.
However, defence lawyer Thomas Hellenbrand pointed out that assize court proceedings are based on oral hearings, meaning that what is said during the trial itself will be decisive.
The accused has been convicted around 30 times since 2001 and has served multiple prison sentences, mainly for theft and violent offences, as well as traffic-related crimes. He had been released from prison on 6 April 2023, just over a month before the shooting, after serving sentences of six and 12 months for refusing to comply with police orders, aggravated violence, and repeat theft.
In addition to the attempted murder charge, he is also accused of using a stolen vehicle to flee the scene, later destroying it, and of making death threats while on the run, allegations he has consistently denied.
In the period leading up to the shooting, authorities had reported an escalation in violence between rival groups.
In May 2023, the drug dealing point was operating openly in the town centre, just a few dozen metres from the town hall and the police station. Drug prices were displayed on the walls of the residential building, likened to a supermarket-style setup.
A few days after the shooting, the walls were repainted and the trafficking activity became less visible. Since then, the dealing point has been dismantled, confirmed Villerupt mayor Pierrick Spizak of the French Communist Party (PCF), who said police had carried out extensive work to prevent it from re-establishing itself. However, he noted that drug trafficking now mainly takes place inside apartments, making it harder to detect.
Police staffing levels, he added, continue to fluctuate and have not reached the 104 officers promised by the state. This remains a crucial issue for the northern Lorraine border region, which is experiencing population growth and heightened challenges, particularly in relation to drug trafficking, Spizak said. He concluded that the fight is a long-term, painstaking effort rather than a quick fix.
