NEED TO KNOW
- A bride is dead after masked men opened fire as she was leaving her wedding reception in Goult, France, in the early hours of June 22
- One of the shooters also died in the attack, while the groom, a child and the groom’s sister suffered injuries
- Local officials have launched an investigation into the shooting
A bride is dead after her wedding reception ended in gunfire.
The woman, her new husband and their guests were wrapping up their wedding celebration in Goult, a village in southeastern France, in the early hours of Sunday, June 22, when armed men wearing masks opened fire, a source close to the investigation told CBS News.
According to the source, the masked men began shooting as the bride and groom were leaving the reception around 4:30 a.m. local time, killing the bride and injuring three others.
One of the shooters was also killed, the source told CBS News. He was run over by the couple’s vehicle as they attempted to flee, per the outlet.
Both the bride and the one shooter died at the scene, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
The groom was one of the three people wounded in the attack, along with a 13-year-old child who was in the vehicle with the newlyweds as they tried to escape, Le Figaro reported.
Both the groom and child suffered serious injuries, according to the French newspaper.
The identities of the bride and groom have not yet been released, but the bride was 27 years old, per Le Figaro. The newspaper also reported that while the bride was unknown to police, the groom had a long history of criminal offenses.
The groom’s sister, who was the third person injured in the June 22 shooting, also had a violent offense on her record, according to Le Figaro.
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Officials have launched a major operation to investigate the shooting and locate the assailants responsible for the attack, per CBS News.
Local officials believe the attack was planned, and potentially gang-related, according to Le Figaro.
During a press briefing at the site of the shooting, Goult Mayor Didier Perello told reporters he believes the shooting “was targeted,” the newspaper reported.
The prosecutor’s office in the nearby city of Avignon has opened an investigation for “murder and attempted murder by an organized gang,” according to Le Figaro.
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