French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez visited the two affected towns, describing the shooting as "clearly a terrorist crime", while President Emmanuel Macron said "the nation is standing with" the victims of this "terrible ordeal".
A gunman opened fire from his car in the Paris suburbs on Friday, killing one person and injuring five others, including a 12-year-old girl who was shot eight times. Prosecutors are investigating the attack as a possible act of terrorism.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez visited the two affected towns, describing the shooting as "clearly a terrorist crime".
The man was "firing at random, wanting to cause a bloodbath" as he drove through the southwestern working-class towns of Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière, Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh said.
The suspect, 39, was arrested in nearby Coignières, according to a source familiar with the case. Police found a submachine gun and tear-gas grenades in his possession, a police source said.
Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation for "murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise".
Most of the victims were of foreign origin, and prosecutors are investigating whether they were targeted because of their "real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion".
Rabeh said the man was firing sporadically from his car and that the person killed was "of African origin".
According to the mayor, one of those injured is "in critical condition" and "is of North African origin".
It was "objectively a racist, probably Islamophobic attack," Rabeh added, calling for national unity as the toll rose from an earlier count of four wounded.
"Very serious events have just taken place in Trappes," French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X. The prime minister said that "all the resources of the security forces and the judicial authorities are fully mobilised." He added that "the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has announced it is monitoring the situation."
"I offer my sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the person who died, and my full support to the other victims," the mayor of Trappes wrote on Instagram. "An investigation is under way to determine the exact circumstances of these events and the motives of the gunman," he added, saying the town would set up a psychological support unit in the coming hours.