Paris shooting suspect has ‘pathological xenophobia’ | Gun violence news

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The Paris prosecutor’s office said the 69-year-old “always wanted to kill immigrants or foreigners”.

French officials say the suspected attacker who is believed to have killed three Kurds in Paris has admitted to “pathological xenophobia”.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said Sunday that since his house was burgled six years ago, the 69-year-old had “always wanted to kill immigrants or foreigners”.

The prosecution added that he set out on Friday morning with the aim of killing immigrants or foreigners and then killed himself.

He killed three people outside a Kurdish cultural center and wounded three others, before he was disarmed and subdued by one of the wounded victims.

The suspect, a former train driver, is said to have been arrested at the scene and taken to a psychiatric clinic on Saturday. It has not been released under his name.

If he is released from psychiatric care, he will face potential charges of racially motivated murder, attempted murder and weapons violation.

Demonstrators clash with police during a demonstration in Paris [File: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]Anger in Paris

The shooting in a bustling Parisian neighborhood has shaken and outraged the Kurdish community, raising fears about hate crimes at a time when far-right voices are rising in France and around Europe.

On the morning of the shooting, the suspect first took his gun to the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis — home to a large immigrant population — with the intention of killing foreigners, but changed his mind, prosecutors said he told them.

He abandoned his plan as there were only a few people and went to a Kurdish center near his parents’ house in the city’s 10th district.

He opened fire on a woman and two men there, before entering a Kurdish-run hair salon across the street and shooting three men. The prosecution’s statement said that one of the injured people in the hairdressing salon was able to stop and detain him until the police arrived.

Members of the Kurdish community demonstrate in Paris [File: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]

Many in the Kurdish community expressed their anger at the French security services, saying they did little to prevent the shootings.

The suspect, who was reported to be a firearms enthusiast with a history of gun crime and who was released on bail earlier this month, told investigators he did not know his victims and described all “non-European aliens” as his enemies.

He was captured along with his handgun, four magazines with 14 rounds of ammunition, and a box with another 25 rounds of ammunition. The prosecutor’s office said that he wanted to use up all the ammunition and kill himself with the last bullet.

On Saturday, members of the Kurdish community in France and anti-racism activists joined in a demonstration of mourning and anger.

While the gathering was largely peaceful, with protesters holding pictures of the victims, some youths threw objects and set a few cars on fire, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

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