One dead and five wounded in a shooting near Paris, and the authorities are investigating suspicions of terrorism

One person was killed and five others were injured, three of them seriously, in a series of shooting incidents from a moving car on the outskirts of the French capital, Paris, while the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution opened an investigation into the attack, the motives of which are not yet clear.

The shooting incidents occurred on Friday morning, starting in the city of Trappes, southwest of Paris, and then in the neighboring town of La Verrière.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that the attack lasted about 15 minutes, while a 12-year-old girl was among the injured.

The authorities announced the arrest of the suspect. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he was placed in police custody.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution (PNAT) announced that it had taken over the investigation into the incident, noting that the incidents may fall within the crime of “murder linked to a terrorist project.”

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told reporters in Trappes: “It is clearly a terrorist crime, and this is what the Public Prosecution said.”

The mayor of Trabé, Ali Rabeh, said that “a person opened fire from his car at several people he encountered” on Friday morning.

According to eyewitnesses, the gunman moved between a number of neighborhoods in a gray Renault Clio car.

Rabah said, in statements to the French channel BFMTV, that the suspect “fired randomly,” while he appeared to be seeking to cause “the largest possible number of victims.”

He added: "He wanted to commit a massacre."

The mayor explained that the gunman targeted people at a gas station, a medical center and a children's playground in Trappes, before heading to the neighboring town of La Ferriere.

A police union official said that the suspect was stopped on the N10 national road, which passes through La Ferriere, while local media reported that his arrest took place in the neighboring town of Kwaniere.

In response to a question about the possible motive behind the attack, the mayor of Trappes said that the dead man was of African origin, and that one of the seriously injured was of North African origin.

Rabeh considered that the attack had a “racist and perhaps anti-Muslim nature.”

However, in a statement, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecution called for caution regarding the identity of the victims.

She explained that the investigation includes suspicion of “murder linked to a terrorist project,” with an aggravating circumstance that the crime may have been committed due to “real or perceived affiliation to a particular race, ethnicity, nation, or religion.”

In a post on the X platform, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “Our hearts are with the victims and their families, as well as with all the residents of Yvelines,” referring to the territory that witnessed the attack.

He added: "In this terrible ordeal, the nation stands with them."

Reports indicated that the attacker drove his car on a main road, shooting at intervals from her window.

A local police official told BFMTV that the suspect used an "old-style semi-automatic weapon" capable of firing bursts of gunfire.

The French newspaper Le Parisien reported that the weapon dates back to the Second World War.

The mayor of Trappes said that the shooting hit a health center, a gas station, and a number of vehicles.