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Day 2: Fatal Shooting Near Christmas Market in Strasbourg Now Considered Terror Attack
French press are reporting four dead and eleven injured in the shooting. Multiple news agencies are reporting that the shooting is now being considered a terrorist attack by French prosecutors. French media is reporting that the shooter, identified as 29-year-old Cherif Chekkat, a French national of Moroccan descent, remains on the lam. A statement by local French police says the shooter is from the notorious Neuhof neighborhood, a hub of Islamist radicalization and a known "no-go" zone. It also states that he was categorized on their terror watch list as "fiche-S," meaning known to be a radicalized bad boy. Media reports indicate that the suspect avoided police that were serving an arrest warrant on him this morning, and that grenades were found at his home. The French Interior Ministry has directed residents to remain inside their homes and to not travel outdoors while the gunman is sought. Since the terror attack on the Christmas market in Berlin two years ago that killed twelve people and injured another 56, European authorities have heightened security at Christmas markets and related events across the continent as I've reported here at PJ Media.
Shots were reportedly exchanged in a street of the southern district of Neudorf after a manhunt involving police and soldiers but there was no confirmation he had been localised. French authorities are treating the shooting as a terrorist act after identifying the gunman, named Cherif C, a radicalised 29-year old from the city on a “S” security and terror watch list, thanks to CCTV. Anti-terrorist prosecutors have opened an investigation. Questions were being raised last night over how the assailant had managed to evade capture yesterday morning. Police were due to arrest him over a botched armed robbery but he had escaped and grenades were found at his home. Hours later, shortly before 8pm, the assailant went on the rampage in Strasbourg’s city centre in the bustling rue des Ofrèvres armed with an automatic pistol and knife. Police reported the attacker was shot and wounded by patrolling soliders before he fled the scene. According to France Info, the wounded suspect took a taxi driver hostage to escape soldiers. The driver reportedly escaped unharmed. According to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, the suspect has an existing criminal record. The mayor of Strasbourg , Roland Ries, said the gunman got inside a security zone to stage the attack. At least two of the wounded last night were said to be in a critical condition. The gunman was wounded by soldiers on patrol as part of France’s Sentinelle anti-terror operation but managed to flee, said police. One of the soldiers was wounded in the hand in the exchange. According to Strasbourg town hall, another operation is taking place at Place Broglie. "There is a strong suspicion that a second person" may be implicated in the shooting, police sources told Le Figaro.
The shooting took place close to the historic Christmas market in Strasbourg's central square Place Kleber. The alleged killer was identified following DNA tests and the examination of CCTV images. He had been sentenced to two years in prison in 2011 following a knife attack on a 16-year-old, according to an investigating source. He was still at large this morning, with 350 security personnel hunting him. Amid the confusion after the attack, earlier reports had talked of him being holed up and surrounded by police, but this was discounted. Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries later confirmed that the gunman had ‘got away in a taxi'. He said a taxi driver was hijacked before midnight, and was forced to drive away at gunpoint. The driver was later found in an undisclosed part of the city, and was unharmed. He said the market would not reopen on Wednesday and that city flags would be flown at half mast. It has not yet been decided whether schools will open in the city, large parts of which are still on police lockdown. Two hundred and sixty police officers are currently patrolling in the vicinity of the market, which was also the subject of a December 2000 bomb plot by al-Qaeda. The spokesman said online groups linked to Islamic State were ‘celebrating the attacks’, but no terrorist group had yet claimed responsibility. He was on a ‘S’ for Security List, meaning he was a danger to national security, and is believed to have been ‘radicalised’, according to Interior Ministry sources. ‘He began shooting on Rue des Orfevres, close to a Christmas Market in the city at around 8pm,’ said a spokesman for the local police department. The opening shots wounded a number of people, and there were fatalities. The shooter was quickly identified, and police gave chase. ‘He was wounded in a subsequent gunfight. Soldiers are involved in trying to bring him into custody.’ Le Figaro has reported that the suspect was due to be arrested on Tuesday morning for a previous robbery, but was not at home when police arrived to arrest him. The French Interior Ministry has called on the public to remain indoors following the shooting. Security officials have cordoned off the area and trams have now stopped running. Posted by: trailing wife 2018-12-12 |
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