Man Fatally Stabbed in Paris Bar Dispute Over Stolen Phone

Killed for a phone? On Sunday, a knife attack resulted in the death of Tarek, a Tunisian in his thirties, a customer of the "Zinc 62", a small bar-restaurant on rue d’Avron, in Paris (20th arrondissement). According to the owner of the establishment, around 9:45 pm, "an altercation" would have broken out with a man that Tarek, seated on the terrace to drink tea, accused of having stolen his phone, reports Le Parisien. "Tarek protests by calling him names, insults," he recalls. The alleged thief would have left the restaurant, before returning "ten minutes later with a knife". "He would then have stabbed his victim in the chest, then left by bicycle," reports Le Parisien. Tarek managed to get up from his chair, take a few steps towards the counter, before collapsing in the room. Called, the emergency services went to the scene of the altercation, but the victim was in cardio-respiratory arrest. Transported with his vital prognosis engaged, under motorcycle escort, to the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital, in Paris (13th), the thirty-year-old succumbed to his injuries. After his death, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened a flagrante delicto investigation for "murder" entrusted to the investigators of the 2nd district of the judicial police (DPJ).

"It’s desolation. A human life taken like that, for nothing," laments the owner of "Zinc 62" who welcomes Tarek "at least once a week". "Death is on every street corner," despairs this man who has been running this establishment "for thirty-eight years". The regulars of the bar are also in shock. "He was kind and hardworking, a decent person. He was an air conditioner. He was tall and handsome, but he wasn’t married yet, he didn’t have a child. It breaks my heart," regrets a customer. "He kept telling me: I’m going to go see my mother in Tunisia soon," a customer laments.