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Three people were killed and four others were injured in a shooting that occurred near a Kurdish cultural center in Paris on Friday. According to the Paris prosecutor, a suspect has been arrested and the incident has been brought under control.
The shooting took place on Rue d'Enghien, a street filled with small businesses and cafes in the 10th arrondissement of the city. The sound of multiple gunshots caused panic among those in the area, and armed police officers were seen guarding a security cordon as ambulances arrived at the scene.
"A gun attack has taken place. Thank you to the security forces for their swift action," Emmanuel Gregoire, the deputy mayor, tweeted. "Thoughts for the victims and those who witnessed this drama." “Following the dramatic shooting which took place this morning, I returned to Paris and will go to the scene.
All my thoughts go to the families of the victims. The perpetrator was arrested,” French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted. "It was Kurds who were targeted," Juan-Golan Eliberg, an artist who works at the Kurdish centre told Reuters.
The prosecutor's office in Paris launched an investigation, and a 69-year-old man was arrested.
Two people were shot in the salon.
"We saw an old white man enter, then start shooting in the Kurdish cultural centre, then he went to the hairdresser's next door," restaurant worker Romain told AFP.
"It's total panic, we've locked ourselves in," one shopkeeper said. Police did not provide a possible motive for the suspect. “We are evaluating the facts to know if the event should be qualified as an act of terrorism,” the prosecutor’s office said One witness told the French news agency AFP that seven or eight shots were fired.
France has experienced a number of lethal attacks by Islamic extremists in the past, and the country remains on high alert for terrorist violence. In response to the shooting in Paris on Friday, the prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into charges of murder, manslaughter, and aggravated violence.
The suspected perpetrator of the attack was previously detained a year ago for an attack with a saber on a migrant camp in Paris, and was also investigated for a racially motivated crime.