Five wounded and one killed in shootings near Paris

A gunman firing from a vehicle killed one person and wounded five in the Paris suburbs of Trappes and La Verrière on Friday 23 October. The number of wounded was revised up from four later that day, as France’s anti-terror prosecutors opened an investigation into whether the victims had been targeted because of their background.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said three of the five wounded had life-threatening injuries. The shooting took place at several locations over about 15 minutes. A 12-year-old girl was among those injured; the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Saturday that she remained in a critical condition.

Police arrested the suspected gunman in nearby Coignières on Friday morning. His detention was extended on Saturday after an initial interview, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The office is investigating murder and attempted murder in connection with a suspected terrorist enterprise, including the possibility that victims were chosen because of their actual or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. President Emmanuel Macron called the shooting a racist terrorist attack. Those descriptions are not a finding of guilt or a settled account of the motive.

Le Monde reported on Saturday, citing multiple sources, that the suspect had told officers at the time of his arrest he had targeted Black and Arab people to avenge shopkeepers whose businesses were looted during protests on 17 October. Investigators were still waiting to see whether he would repeat those remarks in questioning, the newspaper said.