Shooting in Central Paris

On Friday, a gunman opened fire in central Paris, killing three people and wounding three others. The attacker targeted a Kurdish cultural centre and shot local community members. A possible racist motive is being investigated. A suspect, aged 69, was quickly arrested and it soon emerged he had been freed from prison recently. Clashes later broke out between police and a group who had gathered at the scene in the aftermath of the attack. Footage showed people starting fires in the middle of the street and smashing car windows, with officers in riot gear responding by throwing tear gas.

There have been a number of shootings in Paris over the years. Here are a few examples:

In January 2015, two gunmen attacked the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring 11 others.
In November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris, including a mass shooting at the Bataclan concert venue, in which 89 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.
In June 2016, a French police officer and his partner were killed at their home in a suburb of Paris by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State.
In April 2018, a man armed with a rifle opened fire on a police van on the Champs-Elysées, killing one officer and injuring two others before being shot and killed by police.
In December 2018, a man armed with a knife attacked multiple people in central Paris, killing one person and injuring four others before being shot and killed by police.
In October 2019, a teacher was beheaded in a suburb of Paris by a man claiming to have acted in the name of Islam.

It is important to note that these incidents represent only a small fraction of the gun violence that occurs in Paris, and that the vast majority of gun violence in the city is not related to terrorism. The present shooting came almost 10 years after the murder of three Kurdish women activists in Paris in January 2013, including a co-founder of the militant nationalist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A Turkish man was charged with the killings but he died in 2016 before being tried.