PARIS (AP) — A gunman shooting from a vehicle at three locations in a Paris suburb killed one person and injured at least five others, including a 12-year-old girl, in what French authorities described as a racially motivated attack.
The suspect was arrested shortly after the shooting and the national anti-terrorism prosecution took charge of the case. President Emmanuel Macron said it was a “racist terrorist attack” and that the suspect’s statements suggested it was a premeditated attack.
“These people were targeted because of their skin color or their religion, and for no other reason,” Macron said after a meeting with officials and residents in the suburb of Trappes, west of Paris. “There is no place for that in France.”
The shooting took place over about 15 minutes at three different locations in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière, a suburb about 30 kilometers from Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. One person died and five were injured, including three seriously injured, he said.
“A deadly carnage took place this morning,” Nuñez told reporters in Trappes.
The suspect, arrested by the police less than 20 minutes after the shooting began, was identified only as Kévin T., born in 1987, said the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office. Authorities have not released the man’s last name.
His criminal record includes four previous convictions which were automatically expunged under French law, the press release said.
A search of his car revealed a Sten-type machine gun and a tear gas canister, and investigators discovered that his apartment had been booby-trapped with three gas bottles and electrical wires connected to a timer, according to the anti-terrorism prosecution.
Another person, a member of the suspect’s immediate family, was also taken into custody in the afternoon, the press release said.
The national anti-terrorism prosecution indicated that the deceased person was a Frenchman born in 2000. The state of health of the injured people had not yet stabilized on Friday evening, it was specified.
Nuñez congratulated the five anti-crime squad agents who arrested the suspect. “I commend them for their quick response,” he said.
Aurore Bergé, Minister of Gender Equality and the Fight against Discrimination, declared that the 12-year-old girl was very seriously injured.
“If a racist motive is established, I hope that the entire nation will stand alongside the inhabitants of Trappes, La Verrière and the victims. We cannot tolerate the slightest racist remarks in the French Republic,” she declared.
Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh said the gunman appeared to have fired in a relatively random manner, targeting bystanders in several locations, including a playground, possibly because of their apparent African origin.
“This is probably one of the first mass assassination attempts motivated by Islamophobia and racism,” he told reporters.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened a criminal investigation into several crimes, including “murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise with the aggravating circumstance that the act was committed because of the victim’s real or presumed membership of a particular race, ethnicity, nationality or religion.”
The shooting occurred as France prepares for another day of protests against high cost of living Saturday, as major museums closed their doors and the government deployed a much larger security presence to prevent a repeat of these events. the violent unrest of last weekwhich shocked the country.
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Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.
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