The tragedy occurred at the end of a “family” event, an MMA fight organized in a small gymnasium: a 14-year-old teenager was killed during a brawl on the night of Saturday to Sunday in the small town of Coignières, in the Yvelines.
Sunday afternoon, a 16-year-old showed up at the Argenteuil police station (Val-d’Oise) where he said he was the perpetrator of the murder. The suspect, originally from Coignières, was taken into custody.
The Moulin à Vent gymnasium organized mixed martial arts (MMA) fights on Saturday evening. The victim, who came from Maurepas, a neighboring town of around 17,000 inhabitants, was present with his father at this sports gala, bringing together children and parents, according to a source familiar with the matter.
According to the first elements of the investigation, at the end of the evening, around midnight, two gangs of young people clashed outside the establishment: that of the Friches de Maurepas district, against that, “rival”, of the Merchants of Coignières. The victim then receives blows to the head which will be fatal to him, indicated the parquet floor of Versailles, requested by AFP. The blows could have been struck with a hammer, according to a police source. The victim died around 1 a.m., despite attempts to resuscitate the emergency services.
A second youngster from Maurepas, aged 16, suffered a slight head injury. Also according to the first elements of the investigation, witnesses had locked the alleged perpetrator in the gymnasium, but he managed to escape through a window.
The investigation, opened for intentional homicide, was entrusted to the judicial police of Versailles. Nothing, however, raised fears of a particular excess of violence around this sporting event on Saturday evening.
The two cities, with a rather peaceful reputation despite some sensitive neighborhoods, are located on the edge of the forest, about fifteen kilometers from Versailles.
We are a quiet town
“There is a ‘historic’ rivalry between the young people of the two cities, but it has never translated into something so violent,” explains to AFP a source within the town hall of Coignières, a small town of less than 5,000 inhabitants.
“We are a quiet town, we have an extremely low crime rate”, emphasizes this source. Problems, when they arise, can emanate from the Merchants quarter, a small city of 382 dwellings.
“It’s often more incivility than anything else, the Marchands is not even a QPV district”, a priority district, notes the same source. Maurepas, for its part, “is a city rather of seniors, with the bourgeoisie”, explains to AFP a resident of the Friches district. But in several neighborhoods, like hers, “we don’t feel safe,” she says.
She also knows the rivalry with Coignières. “There has already been a young man from Les Friches who was stabbed by a young man from there a few years ago”, she details
What led to this excess of violence on Saturday evening? For the moment, there is nothing to answer this question, which will be put to the suspect in police custody.
“We had done a whole lot of prevention work, especially with the mayor of Maurepas, lately, and it paid off since the city was calm. It had been more than a year, we had no particular concern”, indicated to AFP the mayor of Coignières, Didier Fischer.
From now on, the time is for prevention in the two districts, to avoid a “return match”, these revenges which often follow a brawl. “The mayor of Coignières has already agreed with the police on a plan to secure the territory to fight effectively against any attempt at reprisals”said the town hall in a press release sent to AFP.
The CRS 8, an intervention unit specializing in urban violence, was sent to the area to prevent further violence, according to the Ministry of the Interior.