Paris shooting suspect 'wanted to kill foreigners'

PARIS — The man suspected of fatally shooting three Kurds in Paris on Friday told investigators that he had set out that morning aiming to kill migrants or foreigners and then himself, prosecutors said.

The 69-year-old man killed three people outside a Kurdish cultural center and wounded three others. He was then disarmed and subdued by one of the injured victims, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Sunday.

He was detained at the scene and transferred to psychiatric care on Saturday. His name has not 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 the suspect told investigators that 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 neighborhood 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 elsewhere in Europe.

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

He opened fire on one woman and two men there, and 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.

He told investigators he did not know his victims, and described all "non-European foreigners" as his enemies.

Investigators are studying his computer and phone, but said they had not found any confirmed links to extremist ideology.

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

The French capital's police chief Laurent Nunez told BFM Television on Saturday that 31 officers and one protester were injured in the disturbances.

Agencies via Xinhua