French President Emmanuel Macron condemned racism in French society after an attacker opened fire from a car west of Paris on Friday. One person was killed in the shooting, a 12-year-old girl was injured, and four others were wounded.
Macron described the shooting as a "racist terrorist attack". He arrived at the scene in Trappes, a town west of Paris, on Friday evening and stated that he was deeply saddened by what he called a "premeditated" attack. "What happened today marks a turning point for our country; what happened today was a terrorist and racist attack", Macron said. He also stated that the attacker targeted people because of the colour of their skin.
Macron warned that racism has often become part of the "ambient discourse in France" and has created an "atmosphere". He called: "Do not let this terrorist attack divide us", and requested "respect and unity". He added that many French people would be frightened and think "this could happen to me".
However, Rabeh, the left-wing mayor of Trappes, said that the attacker set off in a car on Friday morning "shooting randomly, wanting to cause bloodshed" while driving through the town and neighbouring La Verrière. He described the attack as "objectively racist, probably Islamophobic". Rabeh, whose family has Moroccan roots, stated: "The people who were targeted today could just as easily have been my mother, my brothers or my daughters-in-law." He added: "The 12-year-old girl is between life and death after being the target of automatic gunfire in our country. Her crime was probably that she is a person of colour." Rabeh also said that it was "probably one of the first attempts at mass murder from Islamophobia and racism".
The mayor called on everyone in France to take responsibility for bringing "calm and harmony" and for collectively condemning rhetoric that "ideologically arms those capable of such acts".
Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether the attacker targeted the "actual or presumed race, ethnic origin, nationality or religion" of the victims. The suspect, a 39-year-old man, was stopped in a car, and the French anti-terrorism prosecutor named him as Kevin T. He was driving through Trappes and La Verrière in the Yvelines department around 10.30 on Friday. Over 15 minutes, he fired multiple times from an automatic weapon, first at a petrol station, then at a medical centre and a children's playground. The French public broadcaster reported that he killed a young Black man, then targeted a woman wearing a headscarf, before shooting the 12-year-old girl.
The girl was treated for eight gunshot wounds in a children's hospital on Friday evening. The prosecutor stated in a statement that the health condition of the five injured victims was not stable. Rabeh said that the man killed was "of African origin", and that another injured person was "of North African origin". Nicolas Dainville, the mayor of La Verrière, told Agence France-Presse that two injured people in his town were cleaners of African origin who were working in a school on Friday morning when the attacker got out of his car and opened fire.
The prosecutor noted that the suspect had a Sten gun – a British submachine pistol used in the Second World War – as well as tear gas when stopped in the car. He had rigged his home with gas canisters and electric wires connected to a timer. One member of his family was arrested and taken for questioning.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated: "Investigations are ongoing, but it is clear that this is a terrorist crime. It is an extremely serious act."
The attack occurred after one of the most violent days of unrest in years was recorded last Saturday. The unrest left burnt public buildings, hundreds of destroyed and looted shops, and at least 2,400 arrests in cities across the country. New protests, due to a lack of teachers and dilapidated buildings in secondary schools as well as high cost of living, are expected on Saturday.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right anti-immigration party National Rally, is polling highly ahead of the next spring presidential elections in which Macron will leave office. Following the attack in Trappes, Fabien Roussel, the communist candidate, wrote on social media that the far right is responsible for "racist hatred" in France. Le Pen condemned what she called the "repulsive motive of racism" in a "barbaric act".
