Paris suburb shooting kills one, prompts terrorism investigation

A gunman firing from a car killed one person and wounded five others in suburbs west of Paris on Friday, prompting an investigation into whether the victims were targeted because of their race or religion, French authorities said.

The shooting unfolded in Trappes and neighboring La Verriere and lasted less than 15 minutes, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. Police arrested the suspect in nearby Coignieres. Al Jazeera reported that he was 39 years old. Nuñez said five officers from an anti-crime brigade stopped the attack.

Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh said the gunman fired at passersby at three locations. Nuñez identified a children’s playground, a fuel station and a medical center among the sites, according to Al Jazeera. The attacker appeared to use “a military-grade weapon, or at least an automatic weapon,” Nuñez said.

Three of the wounded suffered life-threatening injuries, authorities said. A 12-year-old girl was shot eight times and seriously wounded but was in stable condition, La Verriere Mayor Nicolas Dainville told Agence France-Presse, according to CBS News.

Rabeh said the person killed was “of African origin” and that a wounded person in critical condition was “of North African origin.” The attacker was “firing at random, wanting to cause a bloodbath,” Rabeh told broadcaster BFMTV, according to CBS News. “This was a terrorist attack with racist, likely Islamophobic, overtones,” he said.

Nuñez called the shooting a terrorist crime that may have been racially motivated. National antiterrorism prosecutors are investigating murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise and whether the acts targeted the victims’ “real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion,” CBS News reported. Authorities have not announced a confirmed motive.

A police source told AFP the gunman fired in bursts from his vehicle around 10:30 a.m. local time. A Trappes resident identified as Samy told AFP he saw a body on the ground from his window. His mother saw a gray Renault Clio speeding past and heard “loud bangs,” he said.

President Emmanuel Macron said on X that his thoughts were with the victims, their families and local residents. “In this terrible ordeal, the Nation stands by their side,” he wrote. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called the case “very serious” and said security and judicial authorities were fully mobilized.

The shooting came ahead of another round of demonstrations over the cost of living. Protests the previous weekend brought fires, looting, clashes with police and attacks on public buildings and shops. Students, trade union members and yellow vest activists were expected to join Saturday’s protests.

Nuñez said 70,000 officers and gendarmes would be deployed nationwide Saturday, with helicopters, armored vehicles and water cannons available. Elite police units would help protect public buildings. Many demonstrations had been banned, Al Jazeera reported. CBS News reported that major Paris museums, including the Louvre, would close and that Art Basel Paris had canceled its weekend program over safety concerns.