Christopher Aurier, the brother of Tottenham defender Serge, has been shot and killed outside a French nightclub.
The 26-year-old was fatally wounded in the early hours of Monday morning after suffering a gunshot wound to the stomach.
Local residents in Toulouse called police after discovering Aurier, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival at hospital.
French authorities have launched an investigation into who is responsible for the killing, with the guilty party reportedly still at large after fleeing the scene.
Serge Aurier had been in Premier League action for Spurs a matter of hours before the incident occurred, with the 27-year-old taking in a north London derby date with Arsenal.
Tottenham have released a statement offering their condolences, which reads: “The club is deeply saddened to confirm media reports that Serge Aurier’s brother passed away in the early hours of this morning.
“Everybody at the club sends their sincerest condolences to Serge and his family. Our thoughts are with them all.”
Christopher, like his brother, was a footballer and on the books at French fifth division side Toulouse Rodeo.
He came close to beating Serge to a move to England back in 2011, with a trial taken in at Brentford.
Of that experience, he told reporters in 2017: “Brentford were in League One at the time. Everything went well with my trial, but I could not speak English at the time.
“The coach [Uwe Rosler] told me: ‘It’s a shame you can’t understand my instructions. I’d have signed you otherwise’.”
Christopher started out alongside Serge at RC Lens, but did not make a breakthrough at the highest level.
He was a big supporter of his older sibling’s career, with one member of the Aurier family going on to grace the very top of the game.
Serge, after catching the eye at Lens, landed himself a move to Toulouse before eventually ending up at Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-German.
From there, he signed for Tottenham in 2017 and has gone on to take in 80 appearances for the club.
The most recent of those saw him play the full 90 minutes for Spurs as they secured a 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Arsenal.
Serge has also collected 62 caps for the Ivory Coast and formed part of their title-winning squad at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
Source: goal
