A 69-year-old suspect was arrested following the reported murder of three people Friday at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris’ 10th district.
Three people were killed and another three were wounded after the suspect started attacking and shooting people near the Kurdish Democratic Council in Paris, France, according to the BBC. The suspect had recently been released from prison after allegedly attacking migrants living in tents Dec. 8, 2021. While the exact motive behind the shooting remains unknown, investigators are considering an underlying racist motive for Friday’s attack, the outlet reported.
“We were walking in the street and heard gunshots,” witness Ali Dalek told the BBC. “We turned around and saw people running left and right. And then, five or six minutes later, because we know people who work at the hair salon, we went in and we saw that they had arrested a guy — an old man, elderly, tall.”
A gunman has opened fire in central Paris, killing three people and wounding three others. #livefootage #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/6rs56e80Ss
— Mamba3339 (@Mamba3339) December 23, 2022
Members of The Kurdish Democratic Council in France released a statement condemning the attack. A spokesperson for the center said French authorities had “once more” failed to protect members of the Kurdish community in Paris, according to Le Monde. (RELATED: Commanders Running Back Brian Robinson Shot Multiple Times In Attempted Robbery, Carjacking)
Authorities arrested the suspect without a struggle, the BBC reported, and they allegedly recovered the suspect’s weapon. The incident comes almost exactly ten years after three Kurdish women were shot dead in Paris.