A 15-year-old French boy was stabbed to death on Saturday evening by an Afghan migrant in another murder that has caused outrage across the country and put immigration back at the top of public debate.
An Afghan minor of the same age and his 37-year-old mother appeared before an investigating judge on Monday after being arrested for “voluntary homicide.”
The attack occurred in the Saint-Denis region of Châteauroux on Saturday at around 6 p.m. The authorities were dispatched to the scene after receiving reports of a stabbing where they found 15-year-old Matisse lying unresponsive in the street.
According to a police source as cited by TF1info, the victim had been involved in an altercation with the Afghan minor earlier in the day and had engaged in a fight. The alleged perpetrator then went home before returning to where Matisse and his friends were hanging out equipped with a knife.
French news site Fdesouche reported on videos posted on the suspect’s social media prior to the attack, which appear to show him walking around the area brandishing a knife.
The migrant allegedly stabbed Matisse several times with the blade, dealing a fatal blow to his heart and causing his victim to fall to the ground. The migrant’s mother, a 37-year-old woman also from the Afghan capital of Kabul then allegedly beat Matisse several times with her bare hands as he lay on the ground bleeding out.
The French teen was rushed to the hospital for treatment but died a few hours later.
“A 15-year-old teenager tragically died following stabbings received during a brawl in the Saint-Denis district,” read a statement from the local police force. “The prefect would like to commend the action of the police who quickly arrested the alleged perpetrator. The Châteauroux police force remains widely deployed, particularly around the scene of the tragedy, to ensure calm.”
According to French media, Matisse was not from the neighborhood where the attack took place but had traveled there with a friend. He did, however, know the suspect, who it is understood was already under investigation for aggravated theft with violence.
The suspect had previously been brought before the French judicial system back in February last year for aggravated theft but was not convicted. His latest court appearance was just a week before the attack, where he was before the investigating judge of Châteauroux for the same offense.
“At the end of this presentation before the investigating magistrate, the minor was placed under judicial supervision, the only security measure provided for by the code of criminal justice for minors of his age, without previous conviction, and indicted for facts of a criminal nature,” read a press release from the Châteauroux public prosecutor’s office.
The prosecutor added that the ongoing investigation into Matisse’s murder had not found any correlation between the victim and the offense for which the suspect was previously placed under judicial supervision.
The attack took center stage of France’s ongoing immigration debate on Monday as several high-profile conservative politicians took aim at the French government and described Matisse as the latest victim of its open borders migration policy.
“At 15, he had his life ahead of him,” wrote former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on X. “Young Matisse fell, stabbed in Châteauroux by an Afghan known to the justice system. How many of our children will still pay with their lives for this crazy migration policy? My deepest sympathies go out to his family,” she added.
Her National Rally party leader Jordan Bardella said Matisse was a “new victim of a senseless migration policy that endangers the French people. I call on you to never get used to the unacceptable.”
President of Reconquête Éric Zemmour described the murder as “Francocide.”
At a press conference on Monday, local mayor Gil Avérous said the “investigation is progressing and hearings are still underway.”
He confirmed Matisse’s family was being supported and had “remained dignified” despite “experiencing a terrible tragedy.”
“They do not want us to talk about the origin of the attacker, they do not want the subject of immigration to be exposed, because, and these are their words, it is not something that resembles them,” he added.
A “White” march through the town of Châteauroux has been organized for Saturday in Matisse’s memory.
