One dead and three critical after gunmen open fire at wedding in France

One person is dead and another three are in critical condition after masked gunmen opened fire at a wedding reception in north-eastern France early on Sunday.

Police believe the attack outside the Eden Palace hall near Thionville was a targeted assassination, with some sources pointing to drugs.

Around 100 guests were in attendance when a car pulled up at around 1am local time and three masked men got out carrying automatic weapons.

They opened fire in the direction of three guests standing outside the hall smoking, killing one person and injuring five others, before fleeing.

“Several dozen rounds of ammunition were fired,” said a statement from the local prosecutor’s office.

According to the local paper Republicain Lorrain, a man in his 30s died while being transferred to hospital, and three victims were left in critical condition.

A fifth victim, a pregnant woman, suffered minor injuries, as did a sixth person who was injured by shards of broken glass.

The shooting is being treated as murder and attempted murder by an organised criminal gang.

The victims were guests at a Turkish wedding. Pierre Cuny, the mayor of Thionville wrote that the participants were from the metropolitan area of Metz and were not local.

Unconfirmed reports from police sources said the attack was related to drug crime.

“Clearly, we are heading towards a settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking,” one unnamed police source told French media. “The wedding was not targeted as such, it was people who were at the wedding.”

Police said the vehicle was probably a four-wheel-drive BMW, but that its origins had yet to be confirmed. Thionville is close to the Germany and Luxembourg borders.

Drug trafficking has become a big problem in the border region of Lorraine. In the neighbouring town of Villerupt, shootings between rival gangs left five people injured in May 2023.