Sports · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
maleKCSGO Dies At 35 After Bullet To The Head, French Streamer’s Death Announced On X
Malek Bennouioua, aka maleK, 35, former CS:GO pro and streamer. Died by suicide during a RAID intervention at his Aix-en-Provence home.
14 outlets told this the same way.
4 of 5 outlets skipped it: juL wrote a personal Instagram story about Malek being a school colleague.
14outlets compared
maleK dies at 35
Malek Bennouioua, known online as maleK or MalekCSGO, died at 35, and his death was announced on X by his close friend @TheNextPharaon on September 27. HLTV reported that Malek began playing CS:Source in 2011 and competed for beGenius and Epsilon, while it also said his death was not officially confirmed and that relatives asked everyone to avoid rumours and respect privacy.
The French Counter-Strike community confirmed his passing and described him as “one of the pillars of the French CS scene throughout all those years” through the words of French CS reporter Guillaume ‘neL’ Canelo. Malek had about 155,000 Twitch followers, and tributes poured in from well-known names in the French Counter-Strike scene after the announcement.
Raid intervention in Aix
Le Dauphiné Libéré said the Raid intervened in the Saint-Jérôme district in Aix-en-Provence after Malek’s ex-partner alerted authorities, and it said the 35-year-old was barricaded in his apartment. Despite the Raid intervention and hours of negotiations, the man eventually shot himself in the head, and firefighters took him to hospital in a desperate condition before he died around 4 a.m.
RAID officers received an alert about a “maniac” holed up in his apartment in the Saint-Jérôme district of Aix-en-Provence, and the ex-partner had warned authorities after receiving an alarming message around 8:00 p.m. The 35-year-old man, armed, reportedly shot himself in the head and died around 4:00 a.m., while the cause of death had not been officially confirmed in earlier reporting.
Tributes and investigation
Jul paid tribute to Malek in an Instagram story, and Le Dauphiné Libéré quoted Jul writing: “A thought for Malek, rest in peace my classmate.” Richard Papillon urged people not to stay alone when things were not going well, and Le Dauphiné Libéré quoted him on X: “I beg you, don’t stay alone when things aren’t going well, I would have liked to know in order to help him,”
An investigation has been opened to determine the exact circumstances of his death, and it tied the death to the night from Saturday to Sunday in Aix-en-Provence after several hours of negotiation with the Raid. Relatives asked everyone to avoid rumours and respect their privacy as his family deals with grief, while the cause of death has not been officially confirmed.