• Two men aged 28 and 34 were killed by automatic weapons on Tuesday, March 28 on the slab of the Gros Chêne, in Rennes, in a probable settling of scores.
  • In the aftermath of the tragedy, the inhabitants of the working-class district share their anger and their fear of a stray bullet but no one is surprised.
  • A group of young dealers is present on a daily basis on the slab, paving the way for a major drug trafficking.

"Look, it's there, it's red." From the height of his 4 or 5 years, this child was able to recognize the few blood stains that had not been covered by the orange sand of the police. "Don't go there, get out of here," an adult tells him. The day after the double murder of two men aged 28 and 34, the slab of the Gros Chêne woke up with an abnormal police presence. Some passers-by avoid walking on the pool of sand arranged under the arcades of this aging shopping center in the Maurepas district of Rennes. Others do not pay attention and pass on it, some without even knowing that it is there that two men from Guyana and Martinique died Tuesday night.

Both were killed by an automatic weapon in a likely settling of scores against a backdrop of drug trafficking. Another fled. Seriously injured, he presented himself at the CHU in the evening. "There was blood everywhere. They pressed on them, they tried to resuscitate them but they did not succeed. It makes me so sad," says a woman in one of the grocery stores on the slab. Others mention the noise that resonated shortly before 22:30 p.m. "I was reading and then we heard the gust. It made it ratatatatata, like that, all of a sudden. A few minutes later, I heard all the sirens and the police arrived," said a resident of tower number 1. Her friend arrives. "I heard too, it scared me. I knew it wasn't firecrackers, it was stronger, faster."


This Wednesday morning, the probable settling of scores that left two dead and one seriously injured is on everyone's lips. On the commercial slab, the locals talk about it. A little shocked but not surprised. "They're West Indians, right? It doesn't surprise me," says a woman in her forties who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years. "When I arrived here, it was quieter. I was told that Maurepas was hot, but I came from Paris, I found it quiet. But now that's no longer possible." The mother of an 11-and-a-half-year-old boy, she says she is "panicked" every time her son is outside. "I let him go play ball with his friends but I'm not quiet. We're all afraid of a stray bullet."

Big firecrackers and morning rum rasade

This fear of stray bullet is on everyone's mind here. However, at the Gros Chêne, this double murder does not surprise anyone. "It had to happen. It was inevitable. The dealers are there every day, it's not surprising," says Gary (not his real name). Here, the locals are unfortunately used to living with a group of young dealers, who hang out under the arcades night and day. "They are hooded or masked, you can only see their eyes. They are placed there in front of the elevator. No one talks to them," says a man who has lived in the slab for ten years. A woman said she had visited the scene of the tragedy an hour before the shooting. "It was normal, as usual, there were lots of young people to hang out." A group of about twenty young people, many of them minors, spend their days here. "They even set up a table and chairs to play with. The cops are there but they laugh in their faces," said a resident. Some say they come from Blosne, others that they are minots from the neighborhood.

The mayor of #Rennes Nathalie Appéré was this morning on the slab of the Gros Chêne where two men were killed by automatic weapon last night. "We will not give up," she promised residents@20Minutes https://t.co/m8Zeo1vZEp pic.twitter.com/KtKkOOnWmC

— 20 Minutes Rennes (@20minutesrennes) March 29, 2023

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This Wednesday morning, the police are present on the slab to secure it. Officers patrol while some passers-by smoke large joints a few meters away. It was barely 11 o'clock when a man in his twenties sent himself a rasade of pure rum to the bottle. "What is needed is a neighborhood police station here, on the slab." And the one located in Les Gayeulles? "But it's too far away, and it's closed at night!"

"I'm not here to say everything is fine"

Present on the slab since 8 am this Wednesday morning, the mayor Nathalie Appéré and her deputy to the security Lénaïc Briéro exchange with the inhabitants. The two socialist elected representatives sometimes face residents who are not aware of the gusts that have awakened much of the neighborhood. "We all feel very angry and I'm not here to say everything is fine. I have come to say that we will not give up. This neighbourhood needs a strong police presence and we are working on it. But I have the feeling that no one expresses a feeling of abandonment. There is a web of social workers here, of committed people. We must continue to transform this district," says Nathalie Appéré.

Classified among the districts of republican reconquest, the Maurepas sector is the subject of intense requalification work. The arrival of line B of the metro was intended to open up the slab of Gros Chêne. But we will probably have to wait for the complete transformation of the sector to hope to see the situation improve sustainably. Last year, the neighborhood had already been the scene of several settling of scores. A man was stabbed to death in broad daylight and police came under fire. Seven people had been indicted for attempted murder.

  • Society
  • Rennes
  • Brittany
  • Miscellaneous facts Rennes
  • Nathalie Appéré
  • Murder
  • Account settlement
  • Drug trafficking
  • Narcotic