By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER and PETER ALLEN
Published: | Updated:
An alleged racist who shot one person dead and injured five others told police he wanted to kill 'blacks and Arabs' as an 'act of revenge for widespread looting across France.
The armed man, named locally as 39-year-old Kevin T, fired randomly as he drove through several areas of Trappes and neighbouring La Verriere in Paris on Friday morning.
A 26-year-old man was killed and a 12-year-old girl, who was hit by ten bullets during the 15-minute rampage, was among the injured.
The suspect's alleged confession came as widespread anti-government protests continued across France today.
Details of Kevin T's first interview were leaked to Le Monde, and he allegedly told detectives that he 'targeted individuals based on their skin colour'.
There were more than 2,000 shops and small businesses ransacked last Saturday – October 17 – and more than 2500 people were arrested.
A report on Kevin T. reads: 'The alleged shooter claimed he wanted to take revenge for the looting of shops on October 17 and that he targeted individuals based on their skin color.'
It adds: 'He claims to have acted in response to the unrest during the October 17 demonstrations and the widespread looting and vandalism of shops and businesses.'
Police work at the scene following the drive-by shooting in Trappes on Friday
A gunman who killed one person and wounded five others in a shooting outside Paris used a British Second World War-era machine gun to carry out his deadly rampage (file image)
Police officers and forensic experts examine the suspect's vehicle outside a bar-tabac along the N10 highway
Kevin T. used a British Sten gun from the Second World War to mow down random victims around the town of Trappes, during a 20-minute attack from his Renault Clio.
Following his arrest by traffic police, he 'essentially boasted that he avenged the shopkeepers', the report reads.
Such statements are one of the reasons the investigation was handed over to France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT).
It has opened an investigation into 'murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, with the aggravating circumstance that the acts were committed based on the victim's actual or perceived membership in a specific race, ethnicity, nation, or religion'.
When elite anti-terrorist police broke into Kevin T.'s home, they found it booby trapped with fuses linked to gas canisters, before bomb disposal experts made it safe.
As well as Second World War memorabilia, officers found a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.
During a visit to Trappes on Friday evening, President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the 'attack had racist overtones'.
Policemen stand guard in front of a health center after a shooting left one person dead and four others wounded in Trappes, outside Paris on Friday
Police officers look at evidences on a site of a petrol station where a man opened fire from his car
He said: 'These people were targeted because of their skin colour or perceived religion, and for no other reason.
'There is no place for this in France.'
None of the wounded have been identified, but two are said to be French nationals, and others immigrants to the country.
More mass protests were taking place across France on Saturday, and there were fears of serious disorder, including more rioting and arson.
The investigation into the shootings continues.