France: 1 killed, 4 wounded after shooting near Paris

France: 1 killed, 4 wounded after shooting near Paris

The full report

French police arrested a suspect after gunshots were fired on the outskirts of Paris in what President Macron described as a racist and terrorist attack. One person was killed and four others were injured when gunshots were fired from a vehicle outside Paris on Friday, according to local authorities. Interior Minister ⁠Laurent ​Nunez said the shooting was "clearly a terrorist crime." He said shots were fired at the total of three locations in the towns of Trappes and La Verriere, which are located about 20 kilometers (13 miles) west of the French capital, close to Versailles. The "rampage" lasted for 15 minutes, according to the minister. Nunez said the shooter fired "what appears to have been a military-grade weapon, or at least an automatic weapon." Three of the wounded remain in critical condition. Commenting on the shooting, President Emmanuel Macron said the attack "marks a turning point" for France. "What happened today was a terrorist and racist attack," he told reporters, noting that the victims were targeted due to their religion and the color of their skin.

The authorities later identified the suspect as Kevin T., born in 1987. They said the alleged shooter already had a criminal record. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor said the authorities found a Sten Gun — a British-made WWII-era submachine gun — and a tear gas grenade in his car. The alleged shooter had also booby-trapped his apartment, according to the authorities.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether the gunman targeted the "real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion" of the victims. The 39-year-old suspect, who was stopped by police in his car, was named by France's anti-terrorism prosecutor as Kevin T. He had driven through the towns of Trappes and La Verrière in Yvelines at about 10.30am on Friday. Over the course of 15 minutes, he repeatedly fired an automatic weapon, first at a petrol station, then a medical centre and a children’s playground.

The French public broadcaster reported that he shot dead a young black man, then targeted a woman wearing a headscarf, before shooting the 12-year-old girl, who was being treated for her eight gunshot wounds at a children’s hospital on Friday night. The prosecutor said in a statement on Friday night that the medical status of the five wounded victims was not stable.

The Mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, said that "an individual fired shots from his vehicle at several people he encountered" on Friday morning. The gunman drove through several neighbourhoods in a grey Renault Clio, according to witnesses. Rabeh said he had "fired randomly" with the seeming intent of causing "as many casualties as possible... he wanted to cause carnage", he said.

The Mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, said everyone in France had a responsibility to bring "calm and harmony". He called for a collective condemnation of rhetoric that "ideologically arms those capable of carrying out such acts".