Shootings in Yvelines: one dead and five injured, suspect arrested
A man opened fire on passers-by in Trappes and La Verrière on Friday morning. A 26-year-old man was killed and five others injured, including a 12-year-old girl who was seriously wounded.
The incidents on Friday morning in Yvelines
According to TF1 Info, bursts of gunfire struck several areas of Yvelines on Friday morning between 10 a.m. and 10:14 a.m. A man opened fire first on a vehicle containing a mother and her daughter in Trappes, then fired at Pergaud square where he killed a 26-year-old man. The assailant then targeted a petrol station on the national road, injuring two people.
The gunman headed towards La Verrière, where he fired near a pharmacy, seriously wounding two more people. A 12-year-old girl was also hit in a residential neighbourhood. She sustained eight impacts and was hospitalised in serious condition for surgical intervention.
The course of the attack
Witnesses described a scene of brutal violence. One of them witnessed a face-to-face confrontation between the shooter and his victim. He recounted that the shooter aimed to "kill a person at close range". As the victim screamed for his life and pleaded with the assailant to stop, the latter reportedly said: "the bullet, you're going to get it".
The ground in the neighbourhood was strewn with spent casings and empty magazines. Bullet impacts had shattered the windows of a vehicle, testifying to the power of the sustained gunfire.
The arrest and aftermath
The suspect was arrested in Coignières shortly after the final shots. His vehicle was inspected by forensic police and handed over to the authorities. The counter-terrorism prosecution took charge of the case. An investigation into murder was opened with aggravating circumstances, the incidents being presumed to be linked to affiliation based on race, ethnicity or religion.
The mayor of Trappes described the attack as a "racially motivated attack, probably Islamophobic". The five injured, including the girl, received medical care. The mother of the young victim testified to the surgical urgency and the severity of her child's injuries.
Source: TF1 Info