{"id":655203,"date":"2026-10-23T22:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655203\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T22:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T22:24:27","slug":"macron-condemns-racism-after-one-killed-in-terrorist-shooting-near-paris-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655203\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron condemns racism after one killed in \u2018terrorist\u2019 shooting near Paris | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emmanuel Macron has condemned racism in French society after a gunman opened fire from a car west of Paris<\/a> on Friday, killing one person, wounding a 12-year-old girl and injuring four others in what the president called a \u201cracist terrorist attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

Macron arrived at the scene of the drive-by shooting in Trappes on Friday night, saying he was deeply saddened by what he called the \u201cpremeditated\u201d attack. The 12-year-old girl, who was shot eight times, is being treated in hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened today \u200bmarks a turning point for our \u2060country; what happened today \u200bwas \u200ba terrorist \u200band racist attack,\u201d \u200bMacron said.<\/p>\n

He said the gunman had targeted people because of the colour of their skin. The president said racism had often become part of the \u201cambient discourse in France\u201d and created \u201can atmosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cDon\u2019t let this terrorist attack divide us.\u201d He called for \u201crespect and unity\u201d, saying many French people would be scared and thinking \u201cthis could happen to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ali Rabeh, the leftwing mayor of Trappes, said the gunman had set out by car on Friday morning \u201cfiring at random, wanting to cause a bloodbath\u201d as he drove through the town and neighbouring La Verri\u00e8re. The mayor called it \u201cobjectively a racist attack, probably Islamophobic\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rabeh, whose family has Moroccan roots, said: \u201cThe people targeted today could just as easily have been my mother, my brothers or my sisters-in-law.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 12-year-old girl is between life and death after being targeted by a volley of automatic gunfire in our country. Her crime was probably being of colour,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s probably one of the first attempts at a mass crime of Islamophobia and racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabeh said everyone in France<\/a> had a responsibility to bring \u201ccalm and harmony\u201d. He called for a collective condemnation of rhetoric that \u201cideologically arms those capable of carrying out such acts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether the gunman targeted the \u201creal or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion\u201d of the victims.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old suspect, who was stopped by police in his car, was named by France\u2019s anti-terrorism prosecutor as Kevin T. He had driven through the towns of Trappes and La Verri\u00e8re in Yvelines at about 10.30am on Friday. Over the course of 15 minutes, he repeatedly fired an automatic weapon, first at a petrol station, then a medical centre and a children\u2019s playground.<\/p>\n

The French public broadcaster reported that he shot dead a young black man, then targeted a woman wearing a headscarf, before shooting the 12-year-old girl, who was being treated for her eight gunshot wounds at a children\u2019s hospital on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said in a statement on Friday night that the medical status of the five wounded victims was not stable.<\/p>\n

The man killed was named as Pengo Bossio Wangi in an Instagram post<\/a> by the mixed martial arts academy of which he was a member. The Atch Academy paid tribute to a man who \u201cset an example\u201d and said that memories of \u201chis smile, his energy, and his generosity will remain etched within our walls and in our hearts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nicolas Dainville, the mayor of La Verri\u00e8re, told Agence France-Presse that two of the wounded people in his town were cleaners of African origin attending to a school Friday on morning when the shooter got out of his car to open fire.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said that when the suspect was stopped by police in his car he was found with a sten gun \u2013 a British submachine gun used in the second world war \u2013 as well as teargas grenades.<\/p>\n

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The man had also booby-trapped his home with gas canisters and electric wires connected to a timer, authorities said, adding that a member of his family was arrested and taken into custody for questioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigations are ongoing, but it is clearly a terrorist crime. It is an extremely serious act,\u201d the interior minister, Laurent Nunez, told reporters from \u2060Yvelines.<\/p>\n

The \u200cshooting comes at a moment of particular tension in France. Last Saturday saw one of the most violent days of unrest in years<\/a>, which left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted, and at least 2,400 people arrested in cities across the country.<\/p>\n

Renewed protests, over teacher shortages and crumbling buildings in high schools as well as the high cost of living, are expected on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right anti-immigration the National Rally party, is polling highly ahead of next spring\u2019s presidential election when Macron steps down.<\/p>\n

After the Trappes attack, Fabien Roussel, a Communist candidate, wrote on social media that the far right was responsible for \u201cracist hatred\u201d in France.<\/p>\n

Le Pen condemned what she called the \u201cabject motive of racism\u201d of the \u201cbarbaric act\u201d.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Yassin El-Moudden<\/a><\/p>\n