Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: Xose Bouzas / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP 18:53 p.m., December 07, 2023

The Nice prosecutor's office announced that a 17-year-old teenager is suspected of having set up an ambush against a reserve police officer on Tuesday night in a disadvantaged area of the city, along with three other young people, including two 12-year-olds. The policeman was attacked while he was at a bus stop, in plain clothes after the end of his shift.

A 17-year-old boy is suspected of having set up an ambush against a reserve police officer on Tuesday night in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Nice, along with three other youths, including two 12-year-olds, the prosecutor's office announced Thursday. The young man was referred on Thursday as part of a judicial investigation for "attempted homicide with ambush on a person holding public authority", said in a statement the public prosecutor, Damien Martinelli. He was ordered to be remanded in custody.

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The policeman was in plain clothes at a bus stop

The investigation quickly focused on four minors: two 17-year-olds were taken into custody, two 12-year-olds held for 12 hours, the prosecutor's statement said. The reserve policeman was attacked while he was at a bus stop, in plain clothes after the end of his shift, near the Ariane police station, in the north-east of Nice. He was hit several times in the legs and arms by mortar-type pyrotechnic devices, and was also shot in the head but was able to take refuge at the police station.

"A few bruises and burnt clothes, but a significant emotional shock," summed up the National Union of Operational Reserves, which called for "an exemplary criminal response". According to the first elements of the investigation, "the police officer was expected by this group and targeted because of his quality in a context of arrests that took place in the afternoon," added the Nice prosecutor.