Nantes Shooting Kills 15-Year-Old Boy, 13-Year-Old Fights for Life

A 15-year-old boy has died and a 13-year-old is in a critical state after a shooting in Nantes, France. A third boy also sustained injuries in the attack, which French prosecutors believe to be a 'settling of scores' related to drug offences.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez confirmed that the attackers wore balaclavas and utilised automatic weapons. Nantes prosecutor Antoine Leroy stated, "The shots were fired at three young men," linking the violence to illegal drug activities.

However, the 15-year-old victim's aunt, Paola, from the working-class Port-Boyer neighbourhood, vehemently rejected this assessment. She told reporters her nephew "was not a criminal," asserting he was merely "in the wrong place at the wrong time" while visiting a friend.

Witnesses described hearing bursts of gunfire. Angeline, 18, recounted two volleys of approximately ten shots before observing several "hooded and dressed in black" individuals fleeing. The mother of one victim was heard crying in despair at the scene, an area characterised by high-rise apartment blocks alongside the Erdre river.

Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland condemned the "drug trafficking that is plaguing the country," highlighting the community's distress following another fatal shooting in the same vicinity last month. That incident, also linked to drug dealing, saw one man killed and another seriously wounded. Ms Rolland has demanded the deployment of all necessary police resources to apprehend the perpetrators.

France's Ministry of Justice estimates a four-fold increase in teenagers involved in the illegal drug trade over the past eight years. In 2025, several French cities introduced night-time curfews for young people as a measure to combat drug-related violence.