One killed, five wounded in 15-minute Trappes shooting

Violence has returned to the Paris suburbs as a gunman targeted working-class communities with large immigrant populations. One person died and five others were injured in the attack that occurred on Friday.

The shooting began at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time in Trappes and La Verrière. The suspect, identified as Kevin T., is 39 years old. He drove through the two neighboring towns while firing an automatic weapon. The rampage lasted about 15 minutes before police took him into custody.

Investigators found an older-style semiautomatic weapon from the World War II era in the suspect's vehicle. They also recovered tear gas grenades from the car. Prosecutors are currently examining whether T. conspired with a specific terrorist group. A member of his immediate family circle has also been placed in custody.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury stated that T. told officers he wanted to kill foreigners. Mazaury described the suspect as a racist person. French media reported that the deceased victim, Pengo Bassio Wangi, was a young Black man. The five injured individuals include a woman wearing a headscarf and a 12-year-old girl of North African descent.

The girl was shot eight times during the attack. Her mother said the child was born in Trappes and has the right to build her life in France. She asked if her daughter was targeted specifically because of her headscarf. Prosecutors confirmed that three of the five wounded are in critical condition.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declared the incident a terrorist crime. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described the case as very serious and said all security resources were mobilized. President Emmanuel Macron labeled the event a racist terrorist attack and a turning point for the nation.

Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh said the gunman fired at random to cause a bloodbath. He called the attack objectively racist and probably Islamophobic. Rabeh noted that the victims could easily have been his own relatives. He stated that the girl's crime was probably being of color.

The attack occurred while cost-of-living and student protests grip the country. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday to manage expected demonstrations. Some far-right voices have blamed Muslim youths for the recent unrest.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, condemned the shooting as barbaric. Muslim groups accused the populist right of fostering hatred through Islamophobic rhetoric. They pointed to Le Pen's proposal to fine women who wear headscarves in public. The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech.

Monitors report that anti-Muslim hostility is growing across the region. The European Parliament passed a resolution last week calling for an EU strategy against Islamist entryism. The vote was 381 to 167 with 15 abstentions. Researcher Farid Hafez called the resolution a symbolic victory for anti-Muslim forces.