- Suspect admitted deliberately targeting people who appeared Muslim, African, or North African, prosecutors said.
- Attacker fired from a moving vehicle with a submachine gun, killing one and wounding seven, including an 11 year old.
- Prosecutor cited a high level of preparation: weapon components, police armband, handcuffs, silencer, brass knuckles, and extremist literature and stickers.
- Case opened as a terrorism probe amid heated pre election politics, prompting protests and bans of far right events.
A man suspected of a gun attack in the Paris suburbs last week, killing one person and wounding seven including a child, has admitted to “targeting individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African,” prosecutors said on Thursday.
On Friday, the 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kevin T., opened fire with a submachine gun from a moving vehicle as he drove through the towns of Trappes and La Verriere, west of Paris. He was arrested later that day with tear-gas grenades in his car. Most of the victims were of foreign origin.
The attack came amid an increasingly tense political climate, with just six months to go before next spring’s presidential election. Opinion polls currently put far-right leader Marine Le Pen as the frontrunner to succeed Emmanuel Macron.
Earlier this week the suspect had said he did not “dispute the material facts”, but contested “the racist nature of his crimes”.
On Thursday, national terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen told a news conference that Kevin T. now claims he chose the location for his actions because it was “a hotbed for Islamists”.
He has since been held in police custody and was set to appear before a judge later on Thursday, Christen said.
Authorities initially said five people, including an 11-year-old child, had been wounded in the attack, but later revised the toll to seven injured.
Of the people seriously injured in the attack, “three of the victims remain hospitalised as I speak, and one of them is still in life-threatening condition,” Christen said.
Kevin T. rejected suggestions he had “intended to kill children,” but that he “might have been mistaken due to their size.”
Nevertheless, he stated that he “feels no regret,” Christen said.
– ‘High level of preparation’ –
The prosecutor noted the “very high level of preparation” behind the attack, including the acquisition in September of “several weapon components designed to enhance the tactical effectiveness of a Sten submachine gun, as well as a police armband and handcuffs.”
Kevin T. denied any “terrorist intent,” viewing his actions as “legitimate,” the prosecutor said.
The opening of a judicial investigation by the office of the national anti-terrorism prosecutor (PNAT) allows a judge to take charge of the case, specifically regarding charges of “murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise”.
A search of the suspect’s home had uncovered “weapons or weapon components, specifically a magazine, two pairs of brass knuckles, a steel bayonet, and a silencer,” Christen said.
Also found were several “books, including a Quran, a Bible, and Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf”, as well as stickers celebrating the far-right National Rally (RN) party.
– ‘Hateful ideologies’ –
Christen said the stickers bore slogans such as “Long live France, RN, proud to be French”, but they were not produced by the party led by Le Pen.
Kevin T. had told investigators that “he designed the stickers found in his home himself, and then ordered them to be manufactured via Amazon more than a year ago.”
The suspect had said that “he is neither a member of nor a sympathiser with any political party”, Christen said.
The attack triggered a number of demonstrations around France against the normalisation of racist hatred.
In an interview on the YouTube channel HugoDecrypte on Wednesday, Macron suggested that “certain political movements on the far right” — including the RN and “those close to them” — had allowed a climate of racism “to take root”.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a prominent RN lawmaker, retorted that it was the president himself who had allowed “hateful ideologies” to flourish.
Authorities on Thursday banned a far-right, radical-leaning symposium on “remigration” — scheduled for Saturday in the suburbs of Paris — and a demonstration planned for Sunday in the capital.
The organisers said that they would appeal against the ban.
