39-year-old Kevin T. charged after 15-minute spree kills one in Trappes

French authorities have formally charged Kevin T., 39, with carrying out a 15-minute shooting spree in the Paris suburbs of Trappes and La Verriere on Friday morning. The attack left one man dead and five others injured, including a 12-year-old girl who sustained eight gunshot wounds. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed that the state has classified the incident as a terrorist crime.

The violence began at 10:30 a.m. local time when the suspect drove through the two working-class communities, which have large immigrant populations. He fired an automatic weapon at specific locations, including a petrol station, a medical centre, and a children's playground. Police ended the rampage after approximately 15 minutes by arresting T. near the scene.

The sole fatality was identified as Pengo Bassio Wangi, a young Black man according to local media reports. Prosecutors stated that three of the five injured individuals are in critical condition. Among the wounded is a 12-year-old girl of North African descent who was wearing a headscarf. Her mother told broadcaster RTL that her daughter was shot eight times and has been transported to a children's hospital for surgery. The girl’s mother questioned whether her daughter was targeted specifically because of her headscarf.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury said the suspect told officers upon his arrest that he intended to "kill foreigners." Mazaury described T. as a racist individual. Investigators found an older-style semiautomatic weapon from the World War II era in the suspect's car, along with tear gas grenades. A member of T.'s immediate family circle was also taken into custody as prosecutors examine whether he conspired with a terrorist group.

President Emmanuel Macron termed the incident a "racist terrorist attack" and a turning point for the nation. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu stated that all security and judicial resources were fully mobilized to handle the case. Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh, who has Moroccan roots, described the shooting as an "objectively racist attack, probably Islamophobic." He noted that the victims could have been his own relatives and remarked that the wounded girl's crime was "probably being of colour."

The attack occurred against a backdrop of ongoing cost-of-living and student protests in France. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday to manage expected demonstrations. Some far-right figures have blamed Muslim youths for the current unrest, a stance that has drawn criticism from Muslim community groups. These groups accused populist leaders of fostering hatred through rhetoric, specifically citing National Rally leader Marine Le Pen's proposal to fine women who wear headscarves in public.

Le Pen condemned the shooting as "barbaric," while the French Muslim Council stated that promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech have "blood on their hands." Rabeh called politicians who make negative comments about Muslims "criminals." These political exchanges follow a rise in monitored anti-Muslim hostility across Europe. The European Parliament voted 381 to 167 last week to pass a resolution on an EU strategy against Islamist entryism. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency reports that one in two Muslims in Europe face racial discrimination. In the United States, California's attorney general reported a 54 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2025, rising from 24 to 38 incidents.