Trappes Shooting: Man Charged After Killing One and Wounding Five

Kevin T., a 39-year-old man, drove through the northern French suburbs of Trappes and La Verriere on Friday morning and fired an automatic weapon at a petrol station, a medical centre, and a children's playground. The attack began at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time and lasted about 15 minutes before police apprehended him. One person died, and five others were injured in the incident.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury stated that the suspect told officers he intended to 'kill foreigners.' Mazaury described the suspect as a racist. French media reported that the deceased victim, Pengo Bassio Wangi, was a young Black man. Among the five injured was a 12-year-old girl of North African descent who was shot eight times and transported to a children's hospital for surgery. Another victim was a woman wearing a headscarf. Prosecutors indicated that three of the five wounded individuals remain in critical condition.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declared the incident 'clearly a terrorist crime.' Prosecutors are currently investigating whether the suspect conspired with a terrorist group. A member of the suspect's immediate family has also been placed in custody. Investigators discovered a World War II-era semiautomatic weapon and tear gas grenades inside the suspect's vehicle. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu termed the case 'very serious' and confirmed that all security and judicial resources are mobilized.

President Emmanuel Macron labeled the event a 'racist terrorist attack' and a turning point for the nation. He affirmed France's determination to combat racism in all its forms. Ali Rabeh, the mayor of Trappes who has Moroccan roots, said the gunman fired at random to cause a 'bloodbath.' Rabeh characterized the attack as objectively racist and probably Islamophobic. He noted that the victims could have been his own relatives and stated, 'Her crime was probably being of colour,' referring to the injured girl.

The girl's mother told broadcaster RTL, 'How could anyone do this to a child?' She questioned whether her daughter was targeted because of her headscarf and emphasized that the girl was born in Trappes and has the right to build her life in France. The attack occurred during a period of cost-of-living and student protests that have frequently turned violent. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday to manage expected demonstrations.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally, condemned the shooting as 'barbaric.' Muslim groups criticized the populist right for fostering hatred through Islamophobic rhetoric. They pointed to Le Pen's proposal to fine women who wear the headscarf in public. Rabeh called politicians who make negative comments about Muslims 'criminals.' The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech, stating they have 'blood on their hands.'

Recent data indicates growing anti-Muslim hostility in Europe. Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution by 381 votes to 167, with 15 abstentions, calling for an EU strategy against Islamist entryism and the Muslim Brotherhood network. Farid Hafez, a researcher at Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative, called the vote a major symbolic victory for anti-Muslim forces. In June, Amnesty International stated that Islamophobic violence in the United Kingdom had reached 'emergency levels.' The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency reports that one in two Muslims in Europe faces racial discrimination. In the United States, California's attorney general reported that anti-Muslim hate crimes rose 54 percent in 2025, increasing from 24 to 38 cases.