Status: 12/23/2022 2:43 p.m
Three people were killed and several others injured in shootings in Paris. The police arrested a man. The circumstances of the crime are unclear. The shots were fired in a Kurdish community center, among other places.
Three people were shot dead and several others injured in downtown Paris. Initially, there was talk of two dead and four injured, including two seriously injured – now an investigator announced that there were three dead.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, he is investigating intentional killing and serious violence. According to the investigator, racist backgrounds are also examined as a motive. The judicial police is initially responsible, not the terror prosecutor’s office.
Sagittarius was apparently a 69-year-old man
A 69-year-old man was arrested. He is in police custody. He was also said to have been injured.
The deadly shots were fired in a Kurdish community center, among other places. According to the mayor of the tenth arrondissement of Paris, Alexandra Cordebard, the attacker also fired in a restaurant and a hairdressing salon opposite the center near the Gare de l’Est train station.
“Focus on a racist motive” – Friederike Hofman, ARD Paris, with information on the investigation
12/23/2022 2:09 p.m
Motive still unclear – man known to the police
The motive of the man is not yet clear. According to reports from the French TV broadcaster BFM TV, the alleged shooter was already known to the authorities. Prosecutors confirmed that the man was arrested a year ago for attacking a migrant camp in Paris with a saber.
The broadcaster France Info reported, citing police circles, that the suspect was also known for two attempted killings in 2016 and 2021. According to media reports, he only got out of prison in mid-December and was under judicial supervision.
The man is not on the secret service’s list of endangered persons, according to the AFP news agency from police circles.
Police urged people to avoid the area
The Paris police initially gave no information about the incident. On Twitter, she called for people to avoid the area.
The Berlin-based Kurdish Center for Public Relations, which claims to be in contact with the Kurdish Center in Paris, said Paris was assuming a “targeted attack on the Kurdish community.”
Emergency room set up in Paris City Hall
Emmanuel Grégoire, who works for the Paris mayor, wrote on Twitter that a medical-psychological emergency room would be set up at City Hall. It is intended for people who observed the incident.
Grégoire also thanked the security forces for their swift action. His thoughts are with the victims and witnesses of the attack.
France’s interior minister travels to the scene of the attack
France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin says he wants to go to the scene of the attack. Darmanin wrote on Twitter that all his thoughts are with the victims’ families.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also commemorated the victims and their families.