On 23 December 2022, a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 200 ...

occurred at three Kurdish locations in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, France. Three people were killed, and three others were wounded in and around a Kurdish

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Ce ...

on Rue d'Enghien. Investigators believe the shooting to be an act of

right-wing terrorism Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies, most prominently, it is motivated by neo-Nazism, anti-commun ...

. The suspect, 69-year-old William M., has confessed to having been motivated by

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, and declared that he "didn't like the

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

Background

The attack came as

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

violence is on the rise in France. The attack also comes almost ten years after the triple murder against Kurdish activists in January 2013.

Shooting

The mass shooting took place on 23 December 2022, shortly before noon, on Rue d'Enghien in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, near the Ahmet Kaya Kurdish Cultural Centre. The assailant, armed with a Colt 45, fired three shots towards the cultural center, killing two people. He next fired three shots in the direction of a Kurdish restaurant opposite the cultural center, killing one person. He then fired three shots into a Kurdish hairdressing salon, wounding three people.

Victims

Three people were killed in the shooting:

Emine Kara Emine Kara, also known by the nom de guerre Evîn Goyî, (1974 – 23 December 2022) was a Turkish Kurdish militant and political activist who served as president of the . Originally from Turkish Kurdistan, she fled to the Kurdistan Region in Ir ...

, the head of the Kurdish women's movement in France; a Kurdish singer-songwriter and political refugee; and an elderly man who was a regular at the cultural center. Three others were wounded, including one in critical condition. The assailant, before his arrest, was wounded in the face.

Suspect

The suspect, 69-year-old William M., was arrested at the crime scene. He was quickly identified due to an

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...

ID card that was found in his wallet. At the time of his arrest, he had a briefcase which contained two or three loaded magazines and a box of 45 caliber cartridges with at least 25 cartridges inside it. A retired SNCF train driver, he lived in the 10th arrondissement. During the investigation, he said that he would have first "sought to shoot foreigners in Saint Denis" before he changed his mind and decided to target the Kurdish community in the 10th arrondissement, faced with the lack of people in the streets. In 2016, he stabbed a burglar with a kitchen knife, and he was sentenced to twelve months in prison in June 2021. In 2017, he was sentenced to six months in prison for prohibited possession of weapons. In 2021, he attacked a migrant camp in

Bercy Bercy () is a neighbourhood in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, the city's 47th administrative neighbourhood. History Some of the oldest vestiges of human occupation in Paris were found on the territory of Bercy, dating from the late Neolithic ...

with a

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

, injuring three migrants and tearing down six tents. He was under investigation for "racist violence with weapons". During the hearings before the investigating judge, he made profane remarks of "unambiguous racism", and he was released on December 12, 2022 and placed under judicial supervision. Despite those legal convictions, he was never registered in the FINIADA (a national file of persons who are prohibited from acquiring and possessing weapons) and no search had been carried out at his home. A firearms enthusiast and a sport shooter, he said he obtained the Colt 45 used in the shooting from a friend he had met at a shooting club in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. At the time of his arrest, the gunman had two or three magazines loaded with 14 rounds, as well as an additional 25 rounds. He allegedly said that he acted because he was a "

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

", and he made incoherent remarks during his arrest, telling the police that he "didn't like

". Interior Minister

Gerald Darmanin Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Irish ...

stated that the suspect was not the subject of a file which is linked to the "ultra-right" and he also stated that the suspect "was not known to the intelligence services, nor to the Directorate General of Homeland Security". He stated that the suspect was "obviously looking to prey on foreigners" and he also stated that the suspect " acted alone".

Investigation and legal

An investigation of assassination, intentional homicide, aggravated violence, and weapons violations was opened and allocated to the criminal brigade of the DRPJ. On 24 December, the suspect was released from

police custody An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

and placed under psychiatric evaluation.

Aftermath

During Darmanin’s visit to the crime scene on 23 December, police clashed with Kurdish protestors, firing tear gas at them. Hundreds of Kurds gathered outside the center and in neighboring streets to protest the shootings, clashing with security forces, throwing stones and garbage cans. The clashes injured eleven officers, according to the French police. There were further violent protests on 24 December. Representatives of the local Kurdish community were not satisfied with the investigation's focus on the French assailant and deemed a possible involvement of the Turkish Government be included in the investigation. It was announced that in France, Kurdish community centers would be guarded 24 hours a day to prevent a similar event. Similar steps were announced for Turkish diplomatic missions. Following the attack, Turkey asked France to restrict the "anti-Turkish" activity of

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK), France's ambassador to Turkey was summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, to express Turkey's displeasure with the PKK's "black propaganda" against Turkey.

References

External links

The video of Kurdish protests in Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris shooting, 2022 2022 crimes in France

Shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

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