Trappes Shooter Used WWII-Era Weapon in 15-Minute Attack

A gunman killed one person and injured five others in the Paris suburbs of Trappes and La Verrière on Friday, in an attack investigators have designated as a terrorist crime. The suspect, a 39-year-old man identified as Kevin T., drove through the work-class communities and fired an automatic weapon at three specific locations. The spree lasted approximately 15 minutes before police arrested him.

The attack began at 10:30 a.m. local time. Witnesses and officials described the shooter targeting a petrol station, a medical centre, and a children's playground. French media reported that the victim who died was a young Black man named Pengo Bassio Wangi. Among the five injured is a 12-year-old girl of North African descent who was shot eight times. Her mother said the girl, who was wearing a headscarf, was moved to a children's hospital for surgery. Prosecutors stated that three of the five injured people remain in critical condition.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury said the suspect told officers he wanted to "kill foreigners." Mazaury characterized the suspect as a racist. The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, described the shooting as a bloodbath and stated that the victims were likely targeted because of their appearance. Rabeh, who has Moroccan roots, noted that the girl's crime was probably being of color. He called the incident objectively a racist attack and possibly Islamophobic.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed that investigations are ongoing but asserted that the event was clearly a terrorist crime. Prosecutors are examining whether Kevin T. conspired with a terrorist group. A member of his immediate family circle has also been taken into custody. Investigators found an older-style semiautomatic weapon from the World War II era in the suspect's car, along with tear gas grenades.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described the case as very serious and stated that all security and judicial resources are fully mobilized. President Emmanuel Macron labeled the incident a racist terrorist attack and a turning point for the Republic. He said France remains determined to fight racism in all its forms. The girl's mother asked broadcaster RTL if her daughter was targeted because of her headscarf, emphasizing that the child was born in Trappes and has the right to build a life in France.

The shooting occurred while cost-of-living and student protests gripped the country. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday as more demonstrations are expected. Some far-right voices have blamed Muslim youths for the unrest. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen condemned the shooting as barbaric. However, Muslim groups accused the populist right of fostering hatred through Islamophobic rhetoric. They pointed to Le Pen's proposal to fine women who wear the headscarf in public as she campaigns for the presidency.

Rabeh called politicians who make negative comments about Muslims criminals. The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech, saying they have blood on their hands. Monitors report that anti-Muslim hostility is growing more widely. Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution by 381 votes to 167 with 15 abstentions, calling for an EU strategy against Islamist entryism and the Muslim Brotherhood network. Researcher Farid Hafez of Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative called the vote a major symbolic victory for anti-Muslim forces.

Amnesty International stated in June that Islamophobic violence in the United Kingdom had reached emergency levels. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency reported that one in two Muslims in Europe face racial discrimination. In the United States, California's attorney general reported that anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 54 percent in 2025, increasing from 24 to 38 incidents.