Teen hit by car and killed during World Cup celebrations in France

A suspect driving a car "violently hit" and killed a 14-year-old boy during World Cup celebrations in the French city of Montpellier, French authorities said Thursday, per The Associated Press.

Locals were celebrating France's 2-0 win over Morocco in the tournament's semifinal round on Wednesday.

Authorities have found the car but were still attempting to locate the suspect as of 11 a.m. ET Thursday. The boy's name was not made public; he died after being rushed to a hospital, authorities added.

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In images and videos on social media, the car can be seen driving "dangerously" close to people in the street, AP writes. When crowd members allegedly began grabbing at the French flag hanging from the vehicle's window, the driver accelerated, turned around, and hit at least the teen boy before fleeing the scene, per The Wall Street Journal. The Journal's reporting identified the boy as 13, not 14.

Celebrations in other French cities were otherwise mostly peaceful, BBC News reports, aside from an incident in Lyon, where police used tear gas to "halt trouble involving far-right youths."

Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.