A suspect is in custody after a gunman firing from a vehicle killed one person and wounded five others, including a 12-year-old girl, in a Paris suburb attack being treated as terrorism.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, speaking to reporters in Trappes on Friday, said the shootings unfolded across three separate locations in the neighboring towns of Trappes and La Verrière over roughly 15 minutes. The attacker shot dead one victim and left three of the wounded in life-threatening condition, Nuñez said.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office has taken charge of the case. Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into multiple offenses, including “murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise with the aggravating circumstance that the act was committed on account of the victim’s actual or perceived membership of a particular race, ethnic group, nationality or religion.”
Nuñez described the weapon used as “what appears to have been a military-grade weapon, or at least an automatic weapon.” He praised the five officers from the anti-crime brigade who intercepted the suspect. “I commend them for their swift response,” he said.
Aurore Bergé, the minister for gender equality and fight against discriminations, confirmed the 12-year-old girl was among those very seriously injured. “If a racist motive is established, I hope that the whole nation will stand alongside the residents of Trappes, La Verrière, and the victims,” Bergé said. “We cannot tolerate even the slightest racist remark in the French Republic.”
Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh told reporters the gunman appeared to fire relatively randomly at passersby, including at a playground. He identified the slain victim as a person of African origin and noted one of those critically wounded was of North African origin.
“This is probably one of the first attempted mass killings motivated by Islamophobia and racism,” Rabeh said. “This was a terrorist attack with racist, likely Islamophobic, overtones.”
Nuñez said prosecutors were treating the assault as a “terrorist crime” with a possible racist motive. Asked about reports that the suspect’s home had been booby-trapped with gas cylinders, he responded: “We have heard those reports. The investigation will establish the facts.”
The attack came as France prepared for nationwide protests against the high cost of living scheduled for Saturday, prompting major museums to close and the government to deploy a significantly larger security presence to prevent a repeat of violent unrest that shook the country the previous week.
