Girl Shot Multiple Times in Deadly Racist Terror Attack

A 12-year-old girl was seriously wounded and a young mixed martial arts fighter was killed when a gunman opened fire on people in the suburbs of Paris, in what French authorities are investigating as a racially motivated terrorist attack.

The violence unfolded Friday morning, October 23, in the communities of Trappes and La Verrière, southwest of Paris. Within approximately 15 minutes, the attacker fired from a moving vehicle at several locations, leaving one person dead and five others injured.

Among the victims was a 12-year-old girl who was struck by eight bullets. La Verrière Mayor Nicolas Dainville said the child was seriously injured but in stable condition. Her mother told French media that she would need surgery.

For the girl’s family, the attack has raised a heartbreaking question about how a child could become a target of such violence.

“How could anyone do this to a child?” her mother asked, according to BBC News. She emphasized that her daughter was born in France and deserves the same right to live safely in her country as anyone else.

The man killed in the shooting was identified by his martial arts club as 26-year-old Pengo Bossio Wangi, an amateur mixed martial arts fighter. His club, Atch Academy, remembered him for his kindness, energy and generosity, while condemning the violence that took his life. French authorities had not yet publicly confirmed his identity as of Saturday.

According to local officials, the gunman opened fire near a gas station, a medical center and a playground before continuing into a neighboring community. Several victims were reportedly of African or North African descent, prompting immediate concerns that the attacker deliberately targeted people because of their race or perceived religion.

Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh described the violence as a seemingly indiscriminate shooting spree intended to inflict mass casualties. He said the evidence pointed toward a racist attack, potentially motivated by anti-Muslim hatred.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Trappes following the shootings and delivered a forceful condemnation of the violence.

“What happened here today was a racist terrorist attack,” Macron declared, saying victims had been targeted because of their skin color or perceived religion.

The president warned that hatred and discrimination threaten the country’s founding principles of equality and national unity. He called on France to reject extremist ideas that could encourage violence against minority communities.

Police arrested a 39-year-old suspect shortly after the shootings in nearby Coignières. Investigators reportedly recovered a submachine gun and tear-gas grenades from his vehicle.

A search of his apartment also uncovered three gas canisters connected to electrical wiring and a timer, according to anti-terrorism prosecutors, raising additional concerns about what authorities believe may have been a planned act of violence.

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has taken control of the investigation, which includes suspected murder and attempted murder connected to terrorism and possible racist or religious motives. Other individuals associated with the suspect have also been questioned.

The attack has shaken communities already confronting concerns about racism, religious intolerance and extremist violence. As investigators work to establish the suspect’s full motive and determine whether anyone else was involved, families are mourning a young man’s death and hoping for the recovery of the injured.

For the people of Trappes and La Verrière, the tragedy has become a painful reminder that hatred can have devastating consequences for innocent people, including children simply going about their daily lives.

According to additional reporting published Saturday by French newspaper Le Monde, the suspect allegedly told police he wanted to target Black and Arab people. Investigators also reportedly discovered a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf in his home and are examining whether he had connections to far-right extremist groups. Those findings have intensified concerns about the role of racial hatred in the attack, although investigators have not established whether the suspect acted alone or had ties to an organized extremist movement.

Le Monde.fr

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