Five Wounded as French Authorities Probe Racist Terror Attack in Trappes

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declared the shooting spree in Trappes a terrorist crime on Friday, as investigators examined whether the 39-year-old suspect, Kevin T., conspired with a wider group. The attack, which began at 10:30 am local time, resulted in one death and five injuries, with three of the wounded listed in critical condition. Prosecutors have also taken a member of the suspect's immediate family into custody as the inquiry expands.

The gunman drove through Trappes and La Verriere, two working-class communities on the northern outskirts of Paris with large immigrant populations. He fired an automatic weapon at a petrol station, a medical centre, and a children's playground. The rampage lasted approximately 15 minutes before police arrested him. Investigators found an older-style semiautomatic weapon from the World War II era and tear gas grenades inside his vehicle.

Pengo Bassio Wangi, a young Black man, was the person killed in the attack. Among the five injured was a 12-year-old girl of North African descent who was shot eight times. Her mother stated that the girl was moved to a children's hospital for surgery and asked whether her daughter was targeted because she wore a headscarf. A woman in a headscarf was also among the wounded.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury said the suspect told officers he wanted to kill foreigners. Mazaury described the attacker as a racist. Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh, who has Moroccan roots, said the gunman fired at random and aimed to cause a bloodbath. Rabeh described the incident as objectively a racist attack and probably Islamophobic, noting that the victims could have been his own relatives.

President Emmanuel Macron labeled the incident a racist terrorist attack and a turning point in the life of the Republic. He stated that France remains determined to fight racism in all its forms. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu called the case very serious and confirmed that all security and judicial resources were mobilized.

The shooting occurs while cost-of-living and student protests grip the country. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday for further demonstrations. Some far-right voices have blamed Muslim youths for the unrest. Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, condemned the shooting as barbaric. She is currently campaigning for the presidency and has proposed fining women who wear the headscarf in public.

Muslim groups accused the populist right of fostering hatred through Islamophobic rhetoric. The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech, saying they have blood on their hands. Rabeh called politicians who make negative comments about Muslims criminals.

Monitors report that anti-Muslim hostility is growing across Europe. The European Parliament passed a resolution last week calling for an EU strategy against Islamist entryism and the Muslim Brotherhood network. The vote was 381 in favor, 167 against, with 15 abstentions. Researcher Farid Hafez of Georgetown University described the vote as a major symbolic victory for anti-Muslim forces.

Amnesty International reported in June that Islamophobic violence in the United Kingdom had reached emergency levels. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency states 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 cases.