Trappes attack: French anti-terrorism prosecutor says suspect's custody resumed and he disputes racist motive

France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor, Olivier Christen, said on Monday evening that police custody of the main suspect in Friday’s shootings in Trappes and La Verrière, in the Yvelines department west of Paris, had resumed that afternoon, franceinfo and Le Parisien reported.

One man, Pengo Bossio Wangi, 26, was killed in the attack on Friday 23 October. The prosecutor said four people were seriously injured and that three were still in hospital, one of them in a critical condition, as of his statement on Monday evening Paris time. Franceinfo, citing firefighters, reported five injured in total.

Mr Christen said the suspect, a 39-year-old man named by the prosecutor’s office as Kévin T., opened fire at eight locations along a 12km route through Trappes, La Verrière and Coignères, where he was arrested without resistance. He said 128 rounds were fired and that a Sten submachine gun, a knife and a police armband were found in his car, Le Parisien reported.

The prosecutor said the suspect “does not dispute” the facts but “disputes the racist nature” of his crimes (our translation). He said the investigation covers offences including murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, with an aggravating circumstance of targeting victims over their real or supposed race, ethnicity, nation or religion. He also said no political party leaflets were found in the suspect’s car, contradicting earlier press reports.

Custody had been suspended on Saturday after a psychiatric examination. Mr Christen said a psychiatrist found on Monday that it could resume, and that it may last until early Thursday. Four relatives and friends held earlier were released without charge at this stage, the prosecutor’s office said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said on Monday that the suspect’s psychiatric profile “changes nothing” about the act being a “terrorist, racist” attack, franceinfo reported.