One person killed in suspected ‘Islamophobic’ shooting near Paris

What the report says

French authorities are investigating a shooting in the Paris suburbs that left one person dead and five others wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting based on AFP, AP and Reuters. The attack took place on Friday in and around Trappes and nearby La Verriere, southwest of Paris, and the suspect, described as a 39-year-old man, was taken into custody shortly afterward.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the gunman fired at several locations, including a children’s playground, a fuel station and a medical centre. He said three of the injured, including the girl, were in life-threatening condition. Prosecutors are treating the case as a possible terrorist crime while examining whether it was racially or religiously motivated. The motive has not yet been established.

Local officials described the violence as random and potentially Islamophobic in character. Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh said the attack appeared intended to cause mass casualties, while President Emmanuel Macron said national antiterrorism prosecutors had taken over the investigation.

The shooting comes amid a tense period in France, where police were already preparing for nationwide protests and disorder linked to demonstrations over living costs and public anger. Al Jazeera reported that authorities had planned a large security deployment for the weekend, underscoring broader concerns about unrest and political tension in the country.