The brother of Tottenham Hotspur right-back Serge Aurier was shot dead in the early hours of Monday morning outside a Toulouse nightclub.
26-year-old Christopher Aurier, who also came through the Lens academy and had a trial with Brentford back in 2011, was out enjoying his night at local establishment Chez Kin's when he was shot twice in the abdomen.
#Portrait de Christopher #Aurier, le frère de Serge, qui joue à #Toulouse @ladepechedumidi https://t.co/WI4YjVs0gk pic.twitter.com/4dEzPTKRKY
— La Dépêche 31 (@ladepeche31) February 24, 2016
The story was first broken by Le Point and has since been backed up by Europe 1 and local outlet La Dépêche du Midi, all of whom note that Aurier was found with two gunshot wounds to the abdomen and was transported to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Police quickly arrived at the scene but the perpetrator of the shooting managed to flee beforehand. Officials are speaking to witnesses to try and ascertain what happened and a search for the person responsible is ongoing.
Like Serge, Christopher was also a footballer. A striker, he never broke through at the highest level after failing to earn himself a contract with Brentford, and he later had a trial with Manchester-based non-league side Stalybridge Celtic.
More recently, he was on the books at French side Toulouse Rodéo, who currently ply their trade in the fifth tier of French football.
The incident came just hours after Serge played the entire 90 minutes of Spurs' 2-1 win over Arsenal in the north London derby.
Goals from Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette's stunning opener to ensure the first north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium will be remembered fondly.
The victory carried José Mourinho's side up to eighth in the Premier League table, one place and two points ahead of their cross-town rivals, and leaves them in with a chance of qualifying for the Europa League.
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Source : 90min