Three dead in the Strasbourg attack: fugitive gunman hunted down, France placed on "Urgence attentat" [highest level of the national security alert system].
AFP, published on Wednesday 12 December 2018 at 05:33
Several hundred members of the security forces were mobilized during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday to try to find the fugitive perpetrator of the shooting that killed at least three people on Tuesday evening at the Strasbourg Christmas Market, while the government decided to place France in an "emergency attack".
Some 350 people, including 100 members of the judicial police, military and two helicopters, are on the attacker's tail, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told in a statement from the Bas-Rhin prefecture in Strasbourg, where he was sent by President Emmanuel Macron.
On Tuesday evening, "from 7.50 p.m.", the shooter opened fire and "spread terror" at "three places" in Strasbourg, said M. Castaner without revealing his identity.
He killed three people and wounded 12, six of whom are in absolute emergency, according to the minister. For its part, the Bas-Rhin prefecture reported during the night a provisional assessment of three people who died, five seriously injured and six slightly injured. In the evening, the mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, told AFP about the death toll of "four people killed and about ten injured, including three or four whose vital prognosis could be compromised".
"Between 8:20 p.m. and 9 p.m .", the assailant twice exchanged shots with the security forces before fleeing, Christophe Castaner explained.
During these exchanges of fire, the attacker was wounded by a patrol of soldiers from Operation Sentinel who are securing the Strasbourg Christmas Market, explained a police source. According to the army staff, one soldier was slightly wounded in the hand as a result of a shot from the assailant.
"We heard several shots, maybe three, and we saw several people running. One of them fell, I don't know if it was because he tripped or because he was hit. The people in the bar shouted +close, close+ and the bar was closed," said a witness contacted by AFP and confined to his apartment.
Mr. Castaner pointed out that the individual was "very unfavourably known for common law crimes, for which he had already been convicted in France and Germany and for which he had served his sentences".
According to a source close to the case, the suspect,
a 29-year-old man with an "S" record, was to be arrested Tuesday morning by the gendarmes in a common law investigation.
According to information from BFMTV, the 29-year-old individual is from Strasbourg.
He had just escaped arrest and a search this Tuesday morning at his home as part of a robbery investigation, and according to franceinfo, for an attempted homicide. According to BFMTV, grenades were found by the gendarmes at his home.
The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into "murders, attempted murders in connection with a terrorist enterprise and criminal terrorist criminal conspiracy".
After this attack the government raised the level of the Vigipirate plan to "emergency attack", announced the Interior Minister.
This measure includes "the implementation of
tighter border controls, and tighter controls on all Christmas markets in France to avoid the risk of mimicry," he continued. "In addition, there will also be an even stronger mobilization of the sentinel system throughout the country".
In the evening, the Head of State expressed on Twitter the solidarity of the "whole nation" after chairing an inter-ministerial crisis meeting in Beauvau in the presence of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.
The traditional Christmas market in Strasbourg was the subject of an attack plan in December 2000. It is permanently protected by an extensive monitoring system. In particular, some 260 national police officers are mobilized.
In December 2016, the Berlin Christmas market was targeted by a ram truck attack claimed by the Islamic state group that killed 12 people.
After the attack on Tuesday evening, the "Big Island", the historic centre of Strasbourg, was completely sealed off by the police.
According to the prefecture, the containment measures had been lifted at night and access to the city centre was again possible from 2:00 am.
In the almost deserted streets, some people returned home. The rue des Grandes Arcades, where the attack partly took place, was blocked by rubbing with armed police officers preventing access to it.
"Schools, colleges and lycées in Strasbourg will be open tomorrow (Wednesday)," he added.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was "shocked and saddened by the terrible attack", while German Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said she was "shocked by the terrible news from Strasbourg". Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, a former Member of the European Parliament, assured of his "total commitment to ensure that terrorists are identified, blocked and eliminated, in Europe and throughout the world, by all necessary legal means".
The attack on Strasbourg occurred in the middle of the "yellow vest" crisis in France. On Tuesday evening, on a Facebook page announcing an "Act V" of the demonstrations next Saturday, some people mentioned a "manipulation" of the State or a "so-called attack" [Yes, at least some part of the French population seems to be 'woke'].
Translated with
www.DeepL.com/Translator
ALERTE : Première vidéo de la scène à <a href="News about #Strasbourg on Twitter">#Strasbourg</a>. Plusieurs personnes au sol après des coups de feu. La police fait évacuer la rue saint Hélène et la place <a href="#Kleber hashtag on Twitter">#Kleber</a>. Des militaires sont sur place. Des ambulances affluent sur les lieux concernés. <a href="Noticias CMM on Twitter">pic.twitter.com/ChJs7CPmw5</a></p>— La Plume Libre (@LPLdirect) <a href="
">December 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
