after the shooting, the Chutes-Lavie district continues to live with the fear of being stigmatized

A shooting left two dead and one injured Thursday evening in Chutes-Lavie, a quiet neighborhood in the fourth arrondissement of Marseille. The day after the tragedy, residents and traders blamed the blow.

The cleaning services spray the sidewalk with a high-pressure jet to remove the last drops of blood. It’s 11 a.m. Friday September 29 in Chutes-Lavie, and the neighborhood is bustling, still marked by the drama that played out the day before.

Avenue number 39 bears the most visible marks. A bouquet of white roses hangs where a 41-year-old man was murdered. Finished with several bullets from a long weapon, as evidenced by the video surveillance images of the scene which are circulating on social networks and in the media.

Several impacts on the wall testify to the violence of the shooting the day before. Residents stop and take photos. “Don’t take a selfie, it’s indecent” growls a passerby.

The double glazing, broken by several bullets, suggests that the toll, one dead and two injured, could have been even heavier. The man who lives behind these walls had a narrow escape. It was “walking” when the shooting broke out.

Bullets flew into his living room. “Cupboards were damaged.” Visibly shocked, he dismisses the journalists who press him with questions: “I couldn’t get home before 2 a.m., I’m sleepy.”

In the neighborhood, many people are replaying the film of the few minutes before the shooting. At 7:40 p.m., this village core is still lively. Vehicles are parked in double lines to do the last shopping in the businesses that are still open. When a man emerges from a black car and shoots a group of three people, right in front of the tobacco bar and the pizzeria.

“Within two minutes, it could have been you!” says a resident. His interlocutor remains vague-eyed. Jean-Pierre* lives in the pavilion adjoining the house hit by the bullets. He went out to see for himself the damage to his neighbor.

At the time of the shooting, he was watching television with his wife, Marie-Jeanne*. “We heard several bursts, taktaktaktak, taktaktaktak! It was deafening, although the noise from the street does not usually reach the house. I went out to the doorstep and saw a person on the ground. I still don’t realize.”

“It seemed like time had stopped, there wasn’t a cry, the street was quiet”remembers Marie-Jeanne.

Enzo* also heard the shots from his apartment, located opposite the scene of the tragedy. He was immersed in an episode of the reality TV show “Les marseillais” with his mother and sister. He immediately has the reflex to close the shutters, hoping to protect himself in the event of another gust.

This fear of being “a collateral victim” is fueled by the death of a woman at home, killed by a stray bullet in a city in the 10th arrondissement. It was just three weeks ago. “We are no longer safe” blurted the young man.

Her mother, Sylvie* agrees. “I’ve lived here for 43 years. It’s a quiet neighborhood, with lots of retirees. Of course, sometimes we see snatch thefts. But never anything so violent.”

A feeling shared by Marie-Jeanne. “These are things that we usually see on TV and here, it’s in front of our house. What shocks me is that it happened at a time when businesses are still open, people come home from work or go to exercise… It’s scary.”

However, this is not the first shooting that the neighborhood has experienced. On August 23, a 22-year-old man was shot and injured shortly before 11 p.m. But in the collective imagination, this kind of tragedy would only affect working-class neighborhoods.

Like the nearby city of chestnut trees. The area is known to be a drug selling point. Last June, two 17-year-old teenagers were killed there in a shooting.

“I witness things there: the deal points, the violence…” reports Mohamed Benmeddour. He lives in a residence on the edge of the city of chestnut trees. He comes regularly to Chutes-Lavie to “drink a coffee, order a pizza or go to the post office.”

“Here, people are stunned. They’re not used to it. Before, they did this in discreet places. But now, they would even shoot at the foot of the good mother. It can happen anywhere.”

Another feeling grew. The fear of seeing the neighborhood stigmatized, as are the cities in the northern districts. Most of the traders we met no longer want to answer journalists’ questions. ‘You’ve inflated us’launches one of them. “They’re just trying to get back to work.” explains another.

At the bar-tabac-brasserie, the drama is on every tongue. But nothing in the setting indicates that the day before, the two injured in the shooting took refuge here and received first aid.

On the sidewalk, a sign displays the daily special. A fillet of saithe with mashed potatoes. Customers sit down, like every lunchtime. Raphaël, the pharmacist, sums up the state of mind: “We are in shock, but life goes on.”