A man opened fire from a vehicle on Friday in the streets of the town of Trappes, west of Paris, killing one person and wounding four, a police source said.
The man was arrested in the nearby town of Coignières after opening fire in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière around 10:30am (0830 GMT), police said.
Local prosecutors said that they were investigating the shooting as a suspected terror attack.
The death toll could change as emergency services were still working at the scene, about 20 kilometres (13 miles) west of the French capital.
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"An individual fired shots from his vehicle at multiple people along his path, in Trappes and La Verriere," Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh wrote on Instagram.
Writing on X, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the case was "very serious" and said "all resources of the security forces and the judiciary are fully mobilised".
The shooting comes as France is on edge following riots on the sidelines of mass protests over the cost of living last weekend, which saw some of the worst street violence the country has seen in recent years.
More protests are expected this weekend, with police promising a larger presence, after a week of overnight curfews put in place in cities throughout the country.
France had seen a spate of Islamist attacks, including the slaughter by jihadists in the heart of Paris in November 2015 that killed 130.
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There have been fewer incidents in recent years but officials have warned that the risk remains and that attempted attacks are repeatedly thwarted by intelligence gathering.
Samuel Paty, a teacher in another Paris suburb, was beheaded by a radical Islamist in 2020 after he showed his class caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
Trappes has seen its own share of tension, after a teacher there reported receiving threats after writing that the state did not do enough to protect Paty.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)