A 69-year-old man was arrested and taken into police custody on Friday December 23 after opening fire in the Xᵉ arrondissement of Paris. The shooting left at least three people dead and four injured.
[Mis à jour le 23 décembre 2022 à 13h55] A man was arrested in Paris on Friday, December 23, after opening fire near a Kurdish cultural center. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, three people died, while four were seriously injured. Among them, two are in absolute urgency. According to information from 20 minutes, the facts took place at 16, rue d’Enghien, at the Kurdish cultural center Ahmet Kaya. An investigation was opened for counts of “murder, intentional homicides and aggravated violence”. “The investigations have for the time being entrusted to the 2nd district of the judicial police (DPJ),” said the prosecution. The identity of the suspect, who was arrested and taken into custody, is being confirmed.
On Twitter, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, indicated that he would go there in the afternoon. Guest of BFM TV, the mayor of the Xᵉ arrondissement of Paris, Alexandra Cordebard, confirmed that the shooting took place in the Kurdish community center as well as in a restaurant and a hairdresser located opposite. The shooter’s motives are not known. The area is completely cordoned off and will likely remain so all day. Injured and in relative emergency, “the murderer was taken to hospital and will then be questioned by the police,” said the mayor.
According to information from Parisian, the suspect would be a retired, former driver of the SNCF. During his arrest, the police seized the weapon that he used to shoot. The man was known for two attempted homicides. In 2021, he allegedly attacked a migrant center in the 12th arrondissement with a saber and had just been released from prison on December 12, 2022. Placed under judicial supervision, he was prohibited from possessing a weapon. BFM-TV adds that the suspect was the subject of an open judicial investigation for racist violence with weapons due to this saber attack in 2021. The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, confirmed at the beginning of the afternoon the death of three people with two injured in absolute urgency and two others in relative urgency.