Tragic Turn: Peacemaker Killed in Violent Confrontation After Late-Night Drug Dispute

This was the last evening with friends in the Tarterêts neighborhood for Georges Abdel Malek, alias Abdel "the scar". On July 4th, with a few close friends, they were on the market square. Around midnight, the group of friends spotted a man, alone in his parked car, reports Le Parisien. His name is Walid B., a homeless man and a regular at the local shelter. "He was consuming cocaine in plain sight," confides a source close to the investigation. The group asked him to stop, but he refused. The situation escalated when Walid got out of the vehicle and threatened the group with a cutter. But he did not reckon with the fury of several members of the group of friends. They beat him up and damaged his vehicle.

Shortly after, Walid B. fled on foot. With his vehicle immobilized on the spot, he returned to the scene. As tensions rose again, Abdel reportedly tried to calm everyone down. To no avail. Walid failed to hit his first opponent of the evening. Abdel was his next target. He dragged the thirty-year-old across the hood for several meters, then, before giving him a violent brake. Abdel was thrown to the ground. His head hit the pavement head-on. He was hospitalized at the Pitié-Salpêtrière (Paris). Comatose, he succumbed to his injuries in the late afternoon on July 8th.

The Tarterêts neighborhood is in shock after the death of this former ambulance driver. "It’s a shock," confides a close friend. "Abdel was the calm, collected guy who doesn’t like conflict. That he left under these conditions is tragic..." A funeral prayer is scheduled in the coming days at the Corbeil mosque. His body will then be repatriated to Morocco. An online kitty has been created to support the family of the man who recently worked as a security guard at the Carré Sénart shopping center.

Walid B. has been indicted for "murder" and placed in pre-trial detention. According to the Évry-Courcouronnes prosecutor’s office, the member of the group who initially assaulted him has been indicted for "aggravated violence" and placed in pre-trial detention. A judicial investigation has been opened.