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A shooting in central Paris on Friday has left three people dead and multiple others wounded, prosecutors said.
The suspect, aged 69, was arrested but the reason for the shooting wasn’t immediately clear.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said one person is in a critical condition and two others are hospitalised with less serious injuries after the shooting. The attacker was also wounded in the face, she said.
The incident occurred around midday at a Kurdish cultural centre as well as a restaurant and hairdresser nearby, according to the local mayor Alexandra Cordebard.
Speaking to reporters at the scene, she said the “real motivation” for the shooting remains unclear.
As she spoke, a crowd nearby chanted, “Erdogan, terrorist” — referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — and “Turkish state, assassin.”
“We saw an old white man enter then start shooting in the Kurdish cultural centre, then he went to the hairdresser’s next door,” a restaurant worker told news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
While a local shopkeeper told AFP they had locked themselves in during the incident, describing it as “total panic”.
Police cordoned off the area in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital on a busy street with shops and restaurants near the Gare de l’Est train station.
While Paris is bustling with activity before the Christmas weekend, authorities have asked for people to stay away from Strasbourg-Saint Denis as investigations begin.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for murder and attempted murder.
The Paris prosecutor said the suspect had a prior police record, including an arrest for attacking migrants living in tents, and that investigators are considering a possible racist motive for the shooting.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, praised police for their quick response to the incident.
While the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted his condolences to those impacted by the shooting.
“Following the dramatic shooting which took place this morning, I returned to Paris and will go to the scene,” he wrote.
“All my thoughts go to the families of the victims.”
Anti-terrorism prosecutors are in contact with investigators but haven’t indicated any sign of a terrorist motive at this stage.
In 2013, three women Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz — a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK — were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris.
A Turkish citizen was charged with their killing, although suspicion also fell on the Turkish intelligence service.
Turkey’s army has been battling against Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK, in southeast Turkey as well as in northern Iraq.
Turkey’s military has also recently launched a series of strikes from the air and with artillery against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey, Europe and the United States, and has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
France was hit by a string of deadly attacks by Islamic extremists in 2015-2016 and remains on alert for terrorism-related violence.
Source: 9News
