A 17-year-old boy, Louis has died after being ambushed and beaten to death by a group of five attackers in Narbonne, southern France, with his killers filming themselves repeatedly kicking him in the head while mocking him as he lay dying on the ground.
Louis, who had been placed in foster care in nearby Carcassonne by child protection services, was found unconscious on a construction site on the evening of 19-20 June with catastrophic head injuries, severe facial trauma and bleeding from his nose and mouth. He was rushed to hospital and placed in an induced coma but could not be saved, dying on 23 June after three days fighting for his life.
Footage filmed by the attackers themselves and later circulated online shows the group delivering repeated kicks and blows to the teenager’s head as he lay motionless, with his assailants laughing and taunting him throughout. The video has been described by investigators as key evidence in the case.
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Five suspects — three minors and two adults — were arrested after being identified through CCTV cameras near the scene. All five were placed in pretrial detention and initially charged with attempted murder, charges expected to be upgraded to murder or assassination now that Louis has died. Authorities are investigating the attack as a premeditated ambush, possibly carried out as an act of vengeance, rather than a spontaneous brawl.
The case has provoked widespread outrage in France, with particular anger directed at the filmed nature of the killing and the fact that the victim was a vulnerable teenager in the care of the state.
