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Xmas market shooting: One dead, gunman on the run in Strasbourg

Author
Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post ,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Dec 2018, 9:20AM

Xmas market shooting: One dead, gunman on the run in Strasbourg

Author
Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post ,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Dec 2018, 9:20AM

At least two people were killed and eight people were wounded in a shooting near a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, and the shooter was still on the loose, according to French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.

The city centre was locked down as authorities tried to locate the assailant, whose hail of gunfire produced panic in the eastern French city that hosts France's largest Christmas market. Local police said that residents should avoid the area near their headquarters.

"Our security and rescue services are mobilised," Castaner said on Twitter. He was on his way to Strasbourg to monitor the situation in person.

At least one wounded person could be seen being evacuated on a stretcher through the narrow cobblestoned streets of the city centre, which was packed with tourists and residents. The European Parliament was also in session in Strasbourg, adding to the crowds in the city.

"We still don't know the motive. The police have identified the shooter and are searching for him," Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries told the LCI news network.

Christmas markets have become targets for terrorism in recent years, and one in Berlin was struck in 2016 when a truck ploughed through a crowd, killing 12. That year, several arrests were made in November in Strasbourg, and city authorities threatened to cancel the market if it received serious threats.

France has also been struck by weeks of political protests, some of them violent, as yellow-vested activists take to the streets to protest the economic policies of President Emmanuel Macron.

Witnesses interviewed on French television described a single hail of bullets in the frigid Strasbourg night.

One unidentified restaurant owner said he heard the shooting, ran in front of his establishment and saw a prone body lying outside on the ground.

Many shops in the city centre closed their doors and hid their frightened customers inside.

 

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