Three people have been killed in a shooting in Paris. Police have arrested the shooter, a 69-year-old man. “He was targeting foreigners,” Interior Minister Darmanin said.
A 69-year-old man was arrested yesterday in Paris for allegedly opening fire in the tenth arrondissement, in Rue d’Enghien near a Kurdish cultural center.
Targeting Foreigners
The shooter was “clearly targeting foreigners,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said when visiting the scene of the shooting. “It is not certain whether the perpetrator who wanted to kill these persons (…) specifically targeted Kurds.”
The shooter was not known to the intelligence services and other agencies for radicalization, it was also said. That is why Darmanin remained cautious about possible political motives: he could not say whether the man is known for facts in an extreme right-wing context. According to the minister, the man clearly acted alone.
Earlier, AFP news agency learned from two police sources that the man is a 69-year-old retired train driver with French nationality. He was known for two previous attempted murders, according to those sources.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that he is known to the court for two “antecedents”: a case involving facts in Seine-Saint-Denis for which he would have been convicted at first instance, but which the public prosecutor’s office would have appealed. The second case would concern facts in the Bercy district. “It involved people staying in a tent. The suspect would have attacked the tents,” said the prosecutor. She also said that he was at least recently released. According to French media, he left prison on December 12.
This article is originally published on demorgen.be
