man accused of 3 Kurds killed In Paris just before Christmas weekend, he told investigators he set out that morning with the intention of killing an immigrant or a foreigner and then himself, according to prosecutors.
A 69-year-old man was disarmed and subdued by one of the wounded victims after killing three people and wounding three more outside a Kurdish cultural center on Friday.
He was detained at the scene and transferred to a psychiatric unit on Saturday. His name has not been released. If he is released from psychiatric treatment, he faces the possibility of racially motivated murder, attempted murder, and the assault of a weapon.
In a statement on Sunday, prosecutors said the suspect told investigators a robbery at his home in 2016 was a turning point for him, sparking a “completely morbid hatred of foreigners.”
The shooting in a busy Parisian neighborhood has rocked and angered the Kurdish community, raising concerns over hate crimes as far-right voices have become prominent across France and Europe.
The suspect told investigators he first took the weapon to the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with the intention of killing the foreigner the morning of the shooting, but changed his mind. I went to the Kurdish Center in Paris.
He shot a woman and two men there, then entered a Kurdish-owned hair salon across the street and shot three men. One of his men injured at the beauty salon managed to stop him and detain him until police arrived, the prosecutor’s statement said.
He told investigators he did not know the victims and described all “non-European aliens” as his enemies.
Two of the injured were hospitalized on Sunday with leg injuries.
Investigators are looking at his computer and phone, but have found no links to extremist ideology.
Members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists took part in a demonstration of grief and outrage on Saturday. The rally was largely peaceful, and marchers carried portraits of the victims.
Several youths threw objects and set several cars and trash cans on fire, while police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Democratic Council in France said the violence began after some people drove by waving Turkish flags. was
In 2013, three female Kurdish activists, including PKK founder Sakine Cansiz, were found shot dead at a Kurdish center in Paris.
Turkish forces have long fought Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq. Turkish forces have also recently launched a series of air and artillery strikes against targets of Syrian Kurdish militants in northern Syria.
Turkey, the United States, and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group, although Turkey has accused some European countries of being lenient on alleged PKK members. That frustration is the main reason Turkey continues to delay Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Sunday that the riots at protests in Paris were the result of leniency towards the PKK.
“The snake that France had is now biting them. Everyone should see the true face of this terrorist organization,” Akar said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paris-shooting-suspect-wanted-to-kill-migrants-prosecutors-say/ Prosecutors say Paris shooting suspect wanted to kill migrant