Strasbourg shooting

[Deleted]

A gunman being hunted by police after killing three people and injuring 13 others upon opening fire on Strasbourg’s Christmas market is a hardened criminal who was on France’s national security list as a potential terror threat, French authorities have said.

Witnesses said the man shouted “Allah Akbar” as he shot into the crowds and slashed at passersby with a knife.

Two victims died at the scene and a third was said to be “brain dead”. Six of the injured are critically injured and fighting for life.

The public prosecutor Rémy Heitz told journalists the attack was being investigated as terrorism-linked.

Earlier on Tuesday, the man named as 29-year-old Strasbourg-born Chérif Chekatt, had given police the slip when they went to arrest him in connection with an attempted murder. He was not home, but a “grenade”, a gun and ammunition along with four knives were found in a search of his apartment.

When the suspect began shooting in the city centre just before 8pm on Tuesday, police quickly identified him as the same man they had been looking to arrest.

Laurent Nuñez, the secretary of state for the interior ministry, said the failed arrest might be one reason for the attack.

Heitz said the man walked through several streets “at the heart of the Christmas market” shortly before 8pm. “All along this route he opened fire several times with a handgun and used a knife with which he seriously injured and killed.

“Faced with four soldiers from Opération Sentinelle he fired at them and was targeted back and was injured in the arm.” Opération Sentinelle is a nationwide security operation established after a series of terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015.

The gunman then took a 10-minute taxi to the Neudorf district south-east of the centre.

“The taxi driver said the individual asked him to take him to this district without giving an address saying he would give him directions. The taxi driver added he saw the suspect in possession of a hand gun and that he was injured. To explain his injuries, the individual told of what he had done in the centre of Strasbourg by saying he had shot at soldiers and killed 10 people,” Heitz said.

“The taxi driver said the individual made statements justifying what he claimed he had done.”

Chekatt, getting out of the taxi, came into contact with police and there was another exchange of fire.

Heitz said the suspect had been convicted 27 times, mostly for acts of “theft and violence” committed in France, Germany and Switzerland and had been jailed many times. He drew the attention of France’s security services for his “radicalisation and proselytising attitude” while jailed in 2015 and had been under surveillance.

He was on France’s “Fiche S”, a national register of those considered a potential risk to national security. The list includes suspected Islamist extremists but also major criminals, political militants and anarchists.
Strasbourg Christmas market shooting: suspect on the run after three killed
Read more

Castaner, in the early hours of Wednesday, announced France was raising its security level to the highest alert. This means imposing border controls with neighbouring Germany where officials admitted the suspect could have fled.

About 350 security forces have been searching for the gunman.

Police arrested and detained four people said to be “close to” Chekatt after raiding addresses linked to the suspect overnight. After the shootings, police cut off major roads into and out of the city.

Strasbourg’s Christmas market, which started in 1570, is one of France’s most popular seasonal events. The Grande Île where the market is held is surrounded by water, with the River Ill on one side and the Canal du Faux-Rempart on the other, and is accessible only by bridges.

Since the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015, the event has been held under high security. Access to the area is controlled and visitors’ bags are searched. Vehicles have been banned from the area.

In 2016, a truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others. The perpetrator, Anis Amri, a Tunisian who had failed to gain asylum in Germany, was killed four days later in a shootout with police near Milan in Italy.

The attack comes during a period of intense tension across France after four weeks of civil unrest by anti-government protesters from the gilets jaunes movement.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-terror-threat

[petej0]

Only in Trumps America...err...uh...wait...

[Themius]

Only in Trumps America...err...uh...wait...

Exceedingly rare in Europe is the point. While this happened how many mass shootings have we had in the past two weeks?

[sylenna]

Exceedingly rare in Europe is the point. While this happened how many mass shootings have we had in the past two weeks?

exactly. news about one person shot here is rather rare and often linked to organized criminals.

[sarahtasher]

No one is denying for a single second that the culprit is extremely likely to be a Muslim (but maybe a convert). However, as most of other islamist terrorists, he is not a migrant, having been born in France in 1989....


Edit for honesty : he have been named during the night and he is a Muslim, following the pretty standard pattern of petty criminal becoming radicalized in prison

[petej0]

Exceedingly rare in Europe is the point. While this happened how many mass shootings have we had in the past two weeks?

I thought we were blaming Trump for everything.

[Chonar]

I thought we were blaming Trump for everything.

Absolutely not. The other day I bumped my toe, and I actually said "thanks, Obama".

[Mormolyce]

The gunman suspected of killing three people and injuring 13 near Strasbourg’s Christmas Market served several terms in prison for armed robbery and is believed to have been radicalised in prison.

29-year-old Chérif Chekatt has been on France’s “S” file terrorist watch list since 2015, and his profile matches that of self-styled “jihadists” who have carried out other attacks in France.

Born in Strasbourg, he is a French citizen and has some 27 convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland to his name, according to Strasbourg's public prosecutor Rémy Heitz. In 2016, he was released from prison in Germany and, before the attack on Tuesday night, was wanted in connection with an attempted murder and an armed robbery, according to a source close to the investigation.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...error-suspect/

Born in France, life of crime, radicalised in prison. Seems like he fits the new pattern of pseudo-terrorist attacks.

[Machismo]

I thought we were blaming Trump for everything.

Well, you seemed intent on bringing him into the conversation.

[petej0]

Well, you seemed intent on bringing him into the conversation.

It was going there eventually so why not. Lol

On topic though, what are we to take away from this? That gun laws in Europe are still not good enough?

[Machismo]

It was going there eventually so why not. Lol

On topic though, what are we to take away from this? That gun laws in Europe are still not good enough?

No, it's simply a statistical inevitability.

As for your Trump comment, that's the thing with you Trumpsters, you always want to play the victims.

[Deleted]

Man, these lone nutjobs are getting out of hand. Oh wait, he wasn't white. I meant to say they're all to blame.

[Endus]

It was going there eventually so why not. Lol

On topic though, what are we to take away from this? That gun laws in Europe are still not good enough?

I'd say it's more that;

1> Punitive rather than rehabilitative prisons tend to foster radicalization. Prison as a punishment makes sense for people who will spend the rest of their lives in prison, but if you're expecting to release that individual at some point, the purpose of prison should be to rehabilitate that prisoner so they won't re-offend, not to radicalize them and give them access to a refresher course on whatever criminal activity they're interested in.

With possibly a side of;

2> Social inequities lead to friction, and that friction can and inevitably will burst out into violence. Reducing that friction is a good thing.

[Themerlin]

Exceedingly rare in Europe is the point. While this happened how many mass shootings have we had in the past two weeks?

So far for 2018 the US has had 307 mass shootings.

In 2017 it was 345.

So nearly everyday a mass shooting happens in the US.

Lets not forget that right wing extremists in the US use same tactics as foreign terrorists.

[petej0]

No, it's simply a statistical inevitability.

Exactly, just like in the US. 300 million firearms it's simply a statistical inevitability

As for your Trump comment, that's the thing with you Trumpsters, you always want to play the victims.

Not a Trumpster and not playing a victim, just making a joke that everything is the fault of Trump and US policy.

[Draco-Onis]

On topic though, what are we to take away from this? That gun laws in Europe are still not good enough?

That Europe's gun laws are effective since this barely happens in their country versus the US that has one every 2 weeks if not more often.

[lonely zergling]

If you are convicted 27 times for crimes across multiple countries you shouldnt be released anymore especially if you are also known to be radicalized. Classic example of west being too soft to professional criminals.

Easy way to prevent prison radicalization = put muslims in isolation in prison.

[petej0]

So far for 2018 the US has had 307 mass shootings.

In 2017 it was 345.

So nearly everyday a mass shooting happens in the US.

Lets not forget that right wing extremists in the US use same tactics as foreign terrorists.

Yet most of these Mass shootings have happened using handguns and the media and politicians have everyone focused on military style "fully semi automatic" (sigh) weapons.

[Machismo]

Exactly, just like in the US. 300 million firearms it's simply a statistical inevitability



Not a Trumpster and not playing a victim, just making a joke that everything is the fault of Trump and US policy.

You seem to think I'm anti-gun... you would be wrong.

You were trying to argue against something that people weren't saying...typical Trumpster.

[ParanoiD84]

Should put all radical muslims in isolation inside prisons so they cant radicalize others seeing as it's a growing issue.