French gunman kills three after shooting at Kurdish centre in central Paris

PARIS -A 69-year-old gunman opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre and a hairdressing salon in Paris on Friday, killing three people and injuring three others, witnesses and prosecutors said.

The shooting shortly before midday caused panic in rue dEnghien in the trendy 10th district of the French capital, an area of shops, theatres and restaurants that is home to a large Kurdish population.

Witnesses said the gunman initially targeted the Kurdish cultural centre before entering a nearby hairdressing salon where he was arrested.

We saw an old white man enter, then start shooting in the Kurdish cultural centre, then he went to the hairdressers next door, Romain, who works in a nearby restaurant, said in a telephone interview.

Resident Emmanuel Boujenan said: There were people panicking, shouting to the police and pointing to the salon hes in there, hes in there, go in.

He added that he saw two people on the floor of the salon with leg wounds.

A shopkeeper in the area said she heard seven or eight shots, adding that it was total panic. We locked ourselves inside.

The Kurdish community centre is used by a charity that works to integrate the Kurdish population in the Paris region.

The gunman was described by police sources as Caucasian, of French nationality, and known for two previous attempted murders in 2016 and 2021. He had been detained a year ago for an attack with a sabre on a migrant camp in Paris and investigated for a racially motivated crime.

His motives remain unclear, but his identity and his target immediately raised suspicions that the shooting could have been racially motivated.

It was Kurds who were targeted, Mr Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works at the Kurdish centre said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has repeatedly warned about the danger of violent far-right groups in France.

Ms Mathilde Panot, parliamentary head of the hard-left France Unbowed political party, immediately pointed the finger at the far-right, calling it a racist attack.

There are three dead, one person in intensive care and two people with serious injuries, and the suspect, who was arrested, has also been injured, notably to the face, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at the scene.

Some members of the Kurdish centre could be seen weeping and hugging each other for comfort.

Its starting again. You arent protecting us. Were being killed! one of them cried to nearby police.

Often described as the worlds largest people without a state, the Kurds are a Muslim but non-Arab ethnic group spread across Syria, Iraq and Iran, which has faced persecution and violence.

News of the shooting set nerves jangling in a city that has been repeatedly targeted by Islamist terror groups since 2015. AFP, REUTERS Embed Twitter Tweet URL More On This Topic French court convicts suspects in 2016 Nice terror attack Paris court to issue verdicts after marathon 2015 attacks trial