A man driving through the Yvelines towns of Trappes and La Verrière fired bursts from a weapon at people in the street on the morning of Friday 23 October, killing at least one person and wounding four others, according to BFM and Le Monde. The suspect, a 39-year-old identified as Kevin T., was arrested at Coignières and taken into custody, BFM reports. France's national anti-terror prosecutor's office has taken charge of the case.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who travelled to the scene, said the toll stood at one dead and four injured, three of them in very serious condition with their lives still at risk. He described the attack as a "terrorist crime" while saying the motives had yet to be definitively established. The Paris anti-terror prosecutor's office opened a flagrant investigation for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, with the aggravating circumstance that the acts were carried out because of the victim's real or supposed membership of a particular race, ethnicity, nation or religion.
Why it matters
The case has quickly become a political as well as a criminal matter. The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, called the attack one with "a racist connotation, probably Islamophobic," and said a 12-year-old girl wounded in the shooting was fighting for her life. Aurore Bergé, the minister responsible for combating discrimination, told BFMTV it was "a terrorist crime, probably racist in character." President Emmanuel Macron arrived at Trappes town hall on Friday, with the Élysée telling BFM he would express solidarity with everyone mobilised after what it called "the racist terrorist attack" of the day.
The French Council of the Muslim Faith said in a statement that it felt horror and deep indignation at the morning's attack. It said it had repeatedly warned about the consequences of hate speech and of the designation of scapegoats that it said had been normalised by some media outlets and political figures. Were an Islamophobic motive confirmed, the council said, the attack would be a tragic illustration of the dangers of hate ideologies and of rhetoric that sets citizens against one another.
What is known about the suspect
According to the national anti-terror prosecutor's office, Kevin T. was not on the S file, the register of people flagged for suspected radicalisation, and was known only for ordinary criminal offences. BFMTV obtained footage of his arrest showing him seated with his hands behind his back against the rear left wheel of his car, surrounded by police. His flat was found to have been booby-trapped with gas cylinders, BFM reports.
The national anti-terror prosecutor, Olivier Christen, was at the scene and told BFMTV he was visiting each of the crime scenes. Asked about the suspect's motives, Nuñez and Bergé both pointed to the explicit wording of the investigation's legal classification.
A child among the wounded
A 12-year-old girl was hit eight times, according to her mother, who spoke to RTL. The mother said her daughter was undergoing surgery and asked how anyone could do such a thing to a child. She said the girl was not veiled but had been wearing a scarf on her head that morning after going to the swimming pool, and wondered whether that was why the gunman targeted her. The girl was born in France, in Trappes, her mother said, and had the right to live and build her life there.
A woman named Amandine, who went to the girl's aid in La Verrière, told BFMTV the child was screaming for help and saying she was in pain. Amandine said the girl was covered in blood and that when asked where it hurt, she indicated her stomach. She said she told her own daughter to bring a blanket because it was very cold, and that they did not move the injured girl for fear of making her wounds worse.
Rabeh, speaking to the press, said the girl was "between life and death" and argued that her only crime was probably that she was racialised. He told French people and journalists that the country was collectively responsible for what had just happened and for what could happen again. After meeting Nuñez, he said the attack had a racist connotation and was probably Islamophobic, and argued that rhetoric which ideologically arms those capable of acting must itself be treated as criminal. He criticised discourse holding that Arab and Muslim people are responsible for all of society's ills.
The four wounded people were taken to Paris and are receiving the best possible care, Bergé said on BFMTV.
The investigation is at an early stage, and prosecutors have not publicly set out a motive beyond the wording of the charges. Watch for the outcome of the girl's surgery, the findings of the searches linked to the suspect's flat, and any further statement from the anti-terror prosecutor as the inquiry proceeds.
