Strasbourg ‘Christmas market gunman’ who killed three and injured 13
First image is revealed of fugitive ‘Christmas market gunman’ as Thai tourist among three people killed is identified and French police reveal murderer shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he opened fire
- Three people killed and 13 injured when gunman opened fire at Strasbourg Christmas Market last night
- Cherif Chekatt, 29, pictured in French media today, was on the security services’ ‘state threat’ watchlist
- Chekatt, from Strasbourg, has a lengthy criminal record and was ‘known in local Islamist extremist circles’
- Gunman was injured in exchange of fire with soldiers, but hijacked a taxi and managed to flee the scene
- President Macron raised the country’s terror level to its highest state as anti-terror police probed the attack
The 29-year-old gunman who shot and killed at least three people and injured 13 others at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, northeastern France last night cried ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he opened fire, prosecutors say.
Cherif Chekatt has been pictured in local media today, as police revealed his criminal record includes 25 court convictions, including many for armed robbery, and that he had been listed as a ‘threat to the state’ by the French security services.
Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said Strasbourg-born Chekatt had been armed with a handgun and a knife, adding: ‘Terrorism has hit our country again.’
A manhunt is now underway for Chekatt, who managed to flee the scene in a hijacked taxi after being shot in the arm during an exchange of fire with French soldiers in the city centre.
Meanwhile, his first victim has been named as Anupong Suebsamarn, a 45-year-old Thai man on holiday in Europe with his wife, according to Thai media.
Four of those injured are still fighting for their lives, among them a 28-year-old Italian journalist in town to cover the European Parliament, with six others seriously hurt.
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Killer and his victim: Gunman Cherif Chekatt, 29, from Strasbourg was pictured today, as his first victim was named as 45-year-old Thai tourist Anupong Suebsamarn
Hundreds of soldiers and special forces operatives have been called in to take part in the manhunt following the shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, on Tuesday night
Passers-by tend to victims in the immediate aftermath of the attack on a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, last night
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‘Considering the target, his way of operating, his profile and the testimonies of those who heard him yell ‘Allahu Akbar’, the anti-terrorist police has been called into action,’ Heitz told a news conference.
‘Cherif was born in Strasbourg and was well known for robbery and violence, as well as for his links with radical groups,’ said Mr Heitz.
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The suspect’s criminal record includes 25 court convictions, including many for armed robbery, and he had frequently been locked up.
Checkatt, who was pictured today in local newspaper DNA.fr, was first convicted in a youth court aged ten, and spent a total of five years in prison between 2006 and 2016.
In 2011, he was jailed for two years in France ‘for stabbing a teenager,’ an investigating source said.
‘There had also been drug convictions. He was well known in Islamist circles in Strasbourg and for being further radicalised in prison.’
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Three shot dead and 12 injured in Strasbourg shooting
Hunt: Members of the French National Police’s Research and Intervention Brigade are seen during their search for Cherif Chekatt in Strasbourg on Wednesday morning
French President Emmanuel Macron is pictured leaving an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry in Paris last night
An emergency worker was pictured running with a stretcher towards the scene of the shooting, which killed at least three
A police officer stands guard near an area of Strasbourg where the gunman was thought to be located after of the attack
The map shows the area where the attack took place, while the Christmas market is shown in a file picture before the shooting
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Three shot dead and 12 injured in Strasbourg shooting
Neighbors of the man suspected of attacking Strasbourg’s Christmas market have described him as destabilized by his time in prison.
‘You can just tell,’ said one of the young men from the apartment block where Chekatt lived, lightly touching the side of his head. They feared being publicly named because the gunman is still being hunted by police.
A neighbor, who also asked not to be named, said he was rarely home. She said she last saw him Monday from her window, which looks out on a common hallway, and he was with another man.
Beyond Germany and France, Chekatt has spent time in Swiss prisons. His most recent sentence in Germany was for robbing a dental office and a pharmacy in 2016, and he was released and deported to France last year.
Chekatt, a French national from an Algerian background, was originally due to be arrested in connection with an attempted murder in in Eckbolsheim, in north eastern France, in August.
WHO IS CHERIF CHEKATT: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
– Cherif Chekatt, born in Strasbourg in February 1989, to parents of Algerian heritage.
– The suspect was subject of a ‘fiche S’, which is used by police to flag someone who is considered a threat to national security. Although not grounds for arrest, a fiche S (which stands for state security) allows surveillance.
– First appeared in a criminal court aged ten.
– Convicted of 25 crimes in France, Switzerland and Germany, including stabbing a teenager and armed robberies.
– Spent a total of five years in prison between 2006 and 2016.
– Court verdict also said he grew up with six siblings in the city, worked for local authorities after leaving school and had been jobless since 2011.
– BFMTV said the suspect was known to be part of Islamist networks in Strasbourg and was a ‘repeat offender’ and a ‘delinquent’.
– His home was subject of a search on Tuesday morning as part of investigations into a robbery. He was not in but grenades were found.
Before the shooting took place, police had gone to his home earlier to arrest him over this suspected crime, but found him missing. Instead, a number of weapons – including a grenade, a rifle, and four knives – were found in his home.
Chekatt was on an FSTRP file – one that signals those who may have been radicalised and are viewed as a potential terrorist danger in France.
Five people have been arrested in connection with the Strasbourg attack, and are being questioned in relation to ‘previous affairs’ linked to Chekatt, Laurent Nunez, secretary of state for the Interior Ministry, said today.
French President Emmanuel Macron is holding an emergency security meeting at the presidential palace in Paris following Tuesday’s attack in the eastern city of Strasbourg that killed at least two and injured about a dozen others.
The defense council is taking place in the presence of top military officials and government members, including the prime minister, interior, defense and foreign affairs ministers.
They will discuss the progress of the investigation and other security measures as the government raised the alert level nationwide and sent police reinforcements to Strasbourg in a manhunt for the suspect.
Interior minister Christophe Castaner was back Wednesday in Paris after travelling to Strasbourg overnight to supervise police operations.
The carnage unfolded just after 8pm local time outside the historic Christmas market in Strasbourg’s central square, Place Kleber, one of the busiest areas in the city, which is also home to the European Parliament.
Soldiers patrolling the area as part of regular anti-terror operations exchanged fire with the suspect and wounded him, but could not stop him escaping, police sources said. A soldier was slightly injured by a ricochet from a shot by the gunman.
Witnesses said it took up to 45 minutes for paramedics to arrive after the shooting and they were left tending to victims alone
Local authorities had advised residents to stay indoors and avoid ‘the area close to the police station’ in the city
Images showed people running away from the square where the shots were fired and army officials soon swooped the streets
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The driver of the hijacked taxi, who escaped unharmed, told police Chekatt was injured during his escape
Some 350 people, including police, troops and helicopters were on the heels of the attacker who had ‘sowed terror’ in the city, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said.
Castaner also said France had raised its security alert level to ’emergency attack’ with ‘the implementation of reinforced border controls and tightened controls on all Christmas markets in France to avoid the risk of a copycat’ attack.
France’s security forces, already on high alert after a series of terror attacks since 2015, are particularly stretched at the moment due to anti-government protests that have swept the country.
‘I heard shooting and then there was pandemonium,’ one witness, who gave his name as Fatih, told AFP. ‘People were running everywhere.’
He said he had seen three people injured on the ground only a few metres (feet) from the giant Christmas tree in the centre of the city.
Shortly after the shooting, lines of police vehicles and ambulances streamed into the market area, under festive lights declaring the city the ‘capital of Christmas.’
‘We heard several shots, three perhaps, and we saw people running,’ one witness told AFP, asking not to be named.
‘One of them fell down, I don’t know whether it was because she was tripped up or if she was hit,’ the witness said.
President Emmanuel Macron expressed on Twitter the solidarity of the whole nation after holding a crisis meeting with cabinet officials in Paris.
Several areas neighbouring the Christmas market were sealed off on Tuesday night and residents were being told to stay indoors.
Many people took refuge in local restaurants and bars which pulled down their shutters.
‘We let everyone inside, down into the wine cellar. They’re locked in there,’ local restaurant owner Mouad, 33, told AFP.
A police source, again speaking on condition of anonymity, said security forces had opened fire in an area of the city where the suspect was thought to be hiding.
The source did not give the address and it was unclear if the shooter had been located.
Specialist anti-terror prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident in Strasbourg, which lies on the border with Germany.
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A police officer guards the scene near the Christmas market shooting. Dozens of officers were deployed to find the suspect
Authorities work at a makeshift emergency services base after a deadly shooting in Strasbourg
The French Interior Ministry has called on the public to remain indoors following the shooting at the Christmas market
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Several residents of the city have been detained in recent years for trying to reach jihadist groups in Syria, or have been arrested upon their return.
‘Shocked and saddened by the terrible attack in Strasbourg. My thoughts are with all of those affected and with the French people,’ British Prime Minister Theresa May wrote on Twitter.
The Strasbourg-based European Parliament was also on lockdown, with MEPs, staff and journalists unable to leave the building.
In a parliament bar usually reserved for MEPs, EU commissioners, powerful legislators and staffers huddled in small groups waiting for developments.
‘Our first thought was for colleagues who had already made it to the centre of town, who are safe,’ Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt told AFP. ‘Now we just wait.’
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A police car is seen stationed outside market entrance, which shows Strasbourg branding itself the ‘Capital of Christmas’
Basketball supporters were held up at the Rhenus Sport stadium in Strasbourg, eastern France following the shooting
Media are seen near to the site of the shooting in Strasbourg last night. Much of the city remains on lockdown this morning
Staff at the European Parliament building (above) wait to receive news on when they can leave the building after police launched a manhunt for the suspect
‘We are ok!’ Revellers took shelter in the nearby Galeries Lafayette after the shooting began
The Christmas market in Strasbourg and the city’s illuminations are an annual attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of people.
Security has been stepped up in recent years after a series of attacks in France by Islamist gunmen and the Strasbourg market was long considered a possible target.
In 2016, a 23-year-old Tunisian killed 12 and injured 48 others when he ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
Special anti-terror army units have been deployed in Strasbourg, and soldiers and armed police are regularly seen patrolling among the 300 wooden Christmas market chalets.
Emergency service teams standing in the Neudorf area following the shooting, which has left several people critically injured
A French police van rushed next to the shooting site at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, the gunman has been on the run all evening
Police, firefighters and emergency services intervened after the shooting and the streets appeared clear of tourists
Officers have secured the area surrounding the Christmas market following the shooting which took place early evening on Tuesday 11 December
Video images from the scene show people outside of cosmetics store Kiko following the shooting
A police officer is seen securing the street surrounding the area following the shooting where the gunman had been shot by a soldier
Emergency services on the scene in Strasbourg, France, following the incident where four people have died
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Three shot dead and 12 injured in Strasbourg shooting
Three years after groups of jihadists gunned down and blew up 130 people in Paris on November 13, 2015, French counter-terror officials say their focus has shifted.
Rather than coordinated attacks, their main concern is attacks by ‘lone wolves’ – self-radicalised individuals acting without links to terror groups such as Islamic State.
Most recently a 20-year-old Chechnya-born man went on a knife rampage in central Paris last May, killing one man and injuring four other people on a Saturday night.
A total of 246 people have been killed in terror attacks in France since 2015, according to an AFP toll.
The French military (above) has now been called in to patrol the streets surrounding the Christmas market
The surrounding streets close to the Christmas market seem to be lined with emergency services
Deputy mayor of the city, Alain Fontanel tweeted: ‘ Thanks to all for staying at home until the situation has been clarified’
Sinn Fein politician Martina Anderson, a Member of the European Parliament representing Northern Ireland, tweeted: ‘We were in the centre of Strasbourg town when gun shots went off.’
Jaume Duch is the Director General for Communication and Spokesperson of the European Parliament
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