Trappes shooting: One person was killed and four others wounded after a gunman opened fire from a vehicle in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière, west of Paris, on Friday, October 23, 2026. The suspect, identified only as Kevin T., 39, was arrested 16 minutes after the first alert, and France's National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) is now investigating the attack as terrorism with a possible racist motive.
What happened in Trappes and La Verrière
According to police cited by Malay Mail and AFP, the gunman fired an automatic weapon — described as a World War II-era Sten MK II submachine gun — from his vehicle in bursts around 10:30 am local time (0830 GMT), striking targets at three separate locations in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière, roughly 20 km (13 miles) west of Paris.
Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh wrote on Instagram that "an individual fired shots from his vehicle at multiple people along his path." Police sources told AFP the firing zones included a doctor's surgery, a children's playground and a petrol station.
The toll: one person killed — reportedly a 26-year-old man — and four wounded, including a 12-year-old girl who was shot eight times, according to La Verrière's mayor. Three victims were reported in critical condition. The shooter was arrested in nearby Coignières just 16 minutes after the first emergency call.
Who is the suspect
The suspect is Kevin T., 39, a resident of Plaisir, a town near Trappes. He had a criminal record of prior traffic offenses but was not on intelligence services' terror watchlist, according to The Times, citing Le Parisien.
When arrested, he was carrying the Sten gun plus tear-gas grenades and cocaine. Anti-terror officers later raided his home in Plaisir and found it booby-trapped with fuses linked to gas canisters; explosives experts made them safe, The Sun reported, citing an investigating source.
A possible racist terror motive
PNAT opened a formal investigation for "murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise", adding an aggravating clause tied to the victims' real or supposed race, ethnicity or nationality, according to Gulf News.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called it "clearly a terrorist crime" and said a racist motive was possible. Constituency MP Laurent Mazaury said the suspect told officers he wanted to "kill foreigners". Mayor Rabeh told BFMTV the man "appeared to be firing at random and seemed intent on carrying out a massacre," noting the victims included a person of African origin and one of Maghrebi origin — "objectively an attack with a racist connotation, probably Islamophobic."
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu wrote on X that the case was "very serious" and that all security forces and judicial authorities had been fully mobilized. President Emmanuel Macron posted his deep sorrow, thanked law enforcement, and confirmed PNAT had taken over the case.
France on edge ahead of Saturday's protests
The attack comes as France is already on high alert. Riots on the sidelines of cost-of-living protests last weekend produced some of the worst street violence the country has seen in recent years, and another day of demonstrations is expected Saturday, October 24, with roughly 70,000 security personnel deployed nationwide and overnight curfews in place in several cities.
The takeaway: France faces two crises at once — a possible racist terror attack under investigation in the Paris suburbs, and the largest protest-security operation in years. How Saturday's demonstrations unfold will shape an already tense weekend.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Malay Mail / AFP, Gulf News, Times of Israel, The Times.