The Voice winner Kendji Girac has been seriously injured after being shot in the chest during a visit to a French traveller site near Bordeaux.
The 27-year-old singer is in an intensive care unit at the University Hospital in Bordeaux but is not in danger for his life, sources familiar with the case said.
Mr Girac allegedly told police that he mishandled a firearm he had purchased at a flea market on Saturday, which led to him being shot, according to Le Parisien, however cops are refusing to rule out any explanation.
He was conscious when he was found lying outside his holiday caravan in the seaside town of Biscarrosse, claiming he ‘shot himself’.
Forensics experts are also ‘examining his partner for traces of shotgun residue,’ said an investigating source. The source added that ‘a domestic incident’ was to blame for the horrific injuries, and that Mr Girac was already talking about it.
Mr Girac was said to be with the unidentified partner and his three-year-old daughter in the caravan when a shot was heard. Nobody else beyond Mr Girac was injured in the blast, said the source.
Kendji Girac was a juror on The Voice Kids France last year after winning The Voice in 2014
Kendji Girac and Eva Longoria attend the 11th Eva Longoria X Global Gift during the Paris Fashion Week at Four Seasons Hotel George V on September 30, 2023 in Paris, France
Kendji Girac won the third series of the popular TV singing show The Voice in France in 2014 (pictured singing in the quarterfinal)
‘He has said a few words from his hospital bed,’ said the source. ‘He is saying that he shot himself by mistake.’
A source told the BFM news outlet that Mr Girac had bought a shotgun at a flea market on Saturday. He was not sure how to use it, and the accident was the result, it was claimed.
A BFM report adds: ‘Kendji Girac was hit by a bullet in the chest, with an exit point in the back.’
The gun was kept in the caravan, and has since been confiscated by police forensics experts, who are carrying out ballistics tests.
‘He was at a travellers’ camp where he was wounded by a firearm,’ an investigating source previously said.
‘Gendarmes were alerted at around 5.30am, and when they arrived they were confronted by around 20 people who refused to communicate any information.
‘The emergency services meanwhile evacuated a seriously wounded man who had been shot in the chest, and he was rushed to hospital.’
Kendji Girac, 27, is in an intensive care unit at the University Hospital in Bordeaux
Mika (left) and Kendji Girac (right) at the 25th NRJ Music Awards ceremony in Cannes, in the south of France, on November 10, 2023
Confirming the victim as Kendji Girac, the source first described his medical condition as ‘life threatening’, but it was later reported that his life is no longer in danger.
It was not immediately clear what led to his being shot.
Mr Girac, a father-of-one, shot to fame in France in 2014 after winning the third series of the popular TV singing show, The Voice.
He has since released five albums and performed duets with other French singing stars, such as Vianney and Florent Pagny.
Kendji Girac was born Kendji Maillé in Périgueux, in the Dordogne, and is of Catalan gypsy origin.
He has often spoken of ‘growing up in a caravan’ and becoming a pruner after stopping formal education at the age of 16.
Kendji Girac, 27, is in an intensive care unit at the University Hospital in Bordeaux after being hit by gunfire in the early hours of this morning following a visit to a camp in nearby Biscarrosse (file image of the dunes in Biscarrosse)
French singer Kendji Girac poses during a photo session in Paris on March 22, 2021. French singer Kendji Girac, seriously injured by a gunshot, is between life and death, a source close to the case said on April 22, 2024
In August 2013, his uncle posted a video online of Mr Girac covering a song called Bella, in gypsy style.
It became a huge YouTube hit, and got him on to The Voice, which he won with more than 51 per cent of the national vote.
He has since sold millions of albums, with hits including ‘Color Gitano’ and ‘Andalouse’ (Andalucia) referencing his Catalan Roma heritage.
In January 2021, Mr Girac became the father of a daughter called Eva Alba, but has never revealed the identity of the little girl’s mother.
His daughter was reportedly in the caravan at the time of the shooting.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal enquiry into the shooting, and police were on Monday searching the camp where it happened.
