This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

French police are investigating the fatal Christmas Eve killing of a 19-year-old in Marseille in which the victim was reportedly shot 15 times.

Three attackers stormed a cafe in the city late on Saturday and opened fire using a Kalashnikov-style rifle, the prosecutor’s office said.

The Marseille prosecutor, Xavier Tarabeux, said the attackers fled the scene before police arrived and there were fears that another person may have been kidnapped.

The cafe’s 22-year-old manager was briefly detained for questioning but was released on Sunday.

The victim was not previously known to police, and it is feared that one of the people sitting with him in the cafe may have been taken hostage.

While investigators could not immediately confirm the attack’s motive, it appeared that the victim had been intentionally targeted as his body was found riddled with 15 bullets, a source close to the investigation said.

The latest killing brought the number of people shot dead in the Bouches-du-Rhône region this year to 33. Most were killed in Marseille, a port city known for its high crime rate. Most of them have been gangland killings.