A gunman has opened fire in central Paris, killing three people and wounding three others.
Witnesses said the attacker targeted a Kurdish community centre and restaurant and prosecutors said they would look into a possible racist motive.
A suspect, aged 69, was quickly arrested and it soon emerged he had been freed from prison recently.
Authorities appealed for people to avoid the area in Strasbourg-Saint Denis in the 10th district of Paris.
There is no confirmed motive for the shooting, but Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that the suspect had previously been charged with racist violence.
That incident – in which he attacked tents at a migrant camp in Paris with a sword – took place at Bercy on 8 December 2021. It was not clear why he had recently been released.
Local Mayor Alexandra Cordebard said the suspect was also wounded in the shooting and that three places had come under fire: the Kurdish community centre, a restaurant and a hairdresser. Two people were shot in the salon.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the murders had been committed by a “far-right activist”. She added: “Kurds wherever they reside must be able to live in peace and security. More than ever, Paris is by their side in these dark times.”
“We were walking in the street and heard gunshots,” a witness, Ali Dalek, told the BBC. “We turned around and saw people running left and right.
“And then, five or six minutes later, because we know people who work at the hair salon, we went in and we saw that they had arrested a guy – an old man, elderly, tall.”
Another witness, a shopkeeper, told AFP she had locked herself in.
She said she had heard seven or eight bursts of gunfire. Two of those wounded in the shooting are said to be in a critical condition and two others were seriously injured.
Police detained the suspect without resistance and reportedly recovered the weapon used in the attack. Prosecutors said they had opened a murder investigation. Ms Hidalgo praised police for their decisive action.
The attack took place almost 10 years after the murder of three Kurdish women in Paris in January 2013.
The street close to Château d’Eau metro station has several restaurants and shops, as well as the cultural centre. Ms Cordebard said it was a very lively area.
Another witness said the street was now full of emergency services and they were waiting to be able to leave.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he was heading to Paris to visit the scene of the “dramatic shooting”, adding that his thoughts were with the victims’ friends and family.
Source: BBC
