At least three people died and three others were injured, one of them in critical condition, by shots fired this Friday by a gunman in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
A shootout in downtown Paris This Friday caused at least three deaths and three injuries, in an event allegedly committed by a 60-year-old man who was already arrested, official sources reported.
One of the injured is in critical condition, as confirmed by the French capital’s Prosecutor’s Office in a statement collected by the BFMTV chain, for which the death toll could increase.
The suspect in the shooting, identified as a 69-year-old man, was arrested and is also hospitalized “relatively seriously” for a facial wound, the head of the district government, Alexandra Cordebard, confirmed on the other hand.
Witnesses to the incident assure that the individual was reduced at first by the passers-by themselves after opening fire before the appearance of the security forces. At the moment, the motivations for the attack that took place in rue Enghien in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, a few meters from a Kurdish center, are unknown. The police have already cordoned off the area.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced the opening of an investigation for “murder, voluntary homicide and aggravated violence”, thus leaving aside the terrorist trail.
The BFMTV sources specified that the suspect was arrested a year ago, after attacking a migrant center in the 12th district of the capital “with a saber” and was the subject of the pertinent investigation for the exercise of “racist armed violence”. ”. The man was released after filing an appeal.
Sources close to the investigation explained to ‘Le Figaro’ that the individual would have been arrested after opening fire at the Ahmet Kaya Kurdish cultural center, on Enghien street; an association dedicated to the late eponymous singer, who was forced to leave Turkey in 1999 due to a smear campaign.
Cordebard explained that both the community center and the restaurant inside it, as well as an attached hairdresser’s have been affected by the shooting.
The identity of the suspect has not yet been revealed, nor has the age or nationality of the victims been released.
The Paris Prefecture limited itself to confirming an ongoing incident in the area, as well as one person arrested, and urged the population not to approach the place, according to a brief message on its Twitter account.