PARIS: A gunman opened fire from a car outside Paris, killing one person and wounding four others including a 12-year-old girl on Friday, French authorities said.
“We would like to thank our law enforcement agencies, which have already taken the suspect into custody. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the case,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X, expressing deep sorrow over the killing.
The shooting comes at a moment of particular tension in France, after nationwide protests turned violent last Saturday and ahead of possible unrest this coming weekend.
Ali Rabeh, the mayor of the town of Trappes west of Paris, told BFMTV that a man had fired shoots from his car and “appeared to be firing at random and seemed intent on carrying out a massacre”.
Rabeh said the gunman was driving on a road from Trappes to neighbouring La Verriere and lived in a nearby town. Broadcaster BFM reported that the wounded 12-year-old girl had been hit eight times.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said its investigation included looking at whether the shooting was a terrorist act or if it were racially or religiously motivated.