A TEENAGE boy has been beaten to death by a French gang who filmed the “barbaric” attack and shared it online.
Five teenagers are facing murder charges after allegedly luring Louis, 17, to a building site and kicking, stomping and punching him until he went unconscious.
Shortly after the beating, harrowing footage emerged on social media showing the young man on the ground with blood pouring from his face.
Louis was rushed to hospital and placed in a coma after the fatal ambush in the southern town of Narbonne, close to the Mediterranean coast.
Doctors spent five days doing all they could to improve Louis’ condition but he was tragically declared dead on Tuesday.
All five of the men, aged between 16 and 19, arrested have been identified by their first names and the first initial of their surnames.
They are Isaac P, 18, Mathias T, 17, Jordan S, 16, Lucas P, 17, and Kilian T, 19.
Police managed to quickly track them all down due to the footage shared of the alleged attack which showed many of their faces.
It is believed that multiple members of the gang shared the video to their own personal accounts.
Louis was said to have had a history with the gang which hasn’t been revealed.
An investigating source told The Sun: “Louis had a history with the gang, who frequently attacked him.
“All were local boys, and well known to the police for delinquency and other problems.
“Louis knew them too, mainly through child welfare homes, and programmes run by the authorities.
“Last Friday, the gang lured Louis to a building site in Narbonne, and a barbaric beating to death followed.”
All are French nationals detained have been remanded in custody, where they are being questioned at length.
They are likely to be kept in jail pending a murder trial later this year, a local police source added.
Jean-Philippe Rey, the Narbonne prosecutor, said: “The evidence gathered suggests that these extremely serious acts were premeditated and that the suspects had set a trap for the victim, luring him to a construction site to beat him to death.”
Rey added that the victim suffered “multiple bruises on his face as well as various instances of bleeding from the mouth and nose”.
News of Louis’ murder quickly spread across France and caused outrage among the public and top officials.
Bruno Retauilleau, France’s former Interior Minister, said: “Louis was 17 years old. He was lured into an ambush, savagely beaten, and left for dead.
“This outpouring of violence is unbearable, nauseating.
“I first think of his loved ones who will have to live with this immense grief. Once again, several of those charged are minors.
“We can no longer pretend that this barbarization is just a string of isolated incidents.”
His powerful statement concluded: “The French people demand that things change – I want to give them back their voice through a referendum to toughen our criminal justice system.”
A spokesman for Narbonne social services said Louis had “family difficulties” and was in the care of France’s Child Social Welfare service.
Because of his age, he was allowed a lot of freedom, and not supervised around the clock, said the spokesman.
