Paris shooting suspect wanted to kill migrants, prosecutors say

The man suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris told investigators that he wanted to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself

Kurds hold a banner featuring victims of the Paris shooting at a protest in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakeh on Sunday (AFP/Getty)

The gunman suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris has told investigators he had set out to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself, according to prosecutors.

The 69-year-old man killed three people outside a Kurdish cultural centre on Friday and wounded three others before being disarmed and subdued by one of the injured victims.

He was detained at the scene and transferred to psychiatric care. His name hasn’t been released. If he is released from psychiatric care, he faces potential charges of racially motivated murder, attempted murder and arms violations.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect told investigators a 2016 burglary at his home marked a turning point for him, sparking what he called a “hatred toward foreigners that became completely pathological”.

The shooting in a bustling Parisian neighbourhood shook and angered the Kurdish community, and stirred up concerns about hate crimes at a time when far-right voices have gained prominence in France and around Europe.

The suspect told investigators that the morning of the shooting, he took his weapon first to the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with the aim of killing foreigners but changed his mind, the prosecutor’s statement said. He then went to the Kurdish centre in Paris, which is near his parents’ home.

He opened fire on one woman and two men there, then entered a Kurdish-run hair salon across the street and fired on three men. One of the wounded men in the hair salon managed to stop him and hold him until police arrived, the prosecutor’s statement said.

He told investigators he didn’t know his victims, and described all “non-European foreigners” as his enemies, the statement said.

Two of the injured were still hospitalised Sunday with leg injuries.

Scenes after the Paris protest on Christmas Eve (AFP/Getty)

Investigators are studying his computer and phone, but haven't found any confirmed links to extremist ideology, the statement said.

Members of France’s Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined together on Saturday in a demonstration of mourning and anger. The gathering was largely peaceful, with marchers holding portraits of the victims.

Some youths threw objects and set a few cars and garbage bins on fire, and police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. A spokesperson for the Kurdish Democratic Council in France said the violence began after some people drove by waving a Turkish flag. Some of the marchers carried flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

There was a similar demonstration by Kurdish protesters in the Syrian city of Hasakeh on Sunday.