Paris shooting suspect appears before judge

The 69-year-old man confessed to a “pathological” hatred of foreigners and spent almost a day in a psychiatric facility before returning to police custody on Sunday, officials said.

Friday’s shootings at a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby beauty parlor sparked panic in the city’s 10th district, a bustling city home to a large number of shops and restaurants and a large Kurdish population.

Three other people were injured in the attack, none of whom had a life-threatening condition, and one was discharged from the hospital.

The violence has revived the trauma of three unsolved Kurdish killings in 2013 that many blame on Turkey.

Many in the Kurdish community have expressed outrage, saying French security officials did little to prevent the shootings.

Frustration boiled over on Saturday, when enraged demonstrators clashed with police in central Paris for the second day in a row following a mourning rally.

On Monday, hundreds marched on the 10th, chanting “our martyrs will not die” and demanding “truth and justice.”

“I decided to come as soon as I heard about the terrorist attacks on Friday,” a young woman told AFP, but declined to give her name out of fear of retaliation. and secret service fears.”

– History of Violence –

The suspect, named William M. by French media, is a gun enthusiast with a history of weapons crimes who was released on bail earlier this month.

The retired train driver appealed his 2016 conviction of armed violence in a Seine-Saint-Denis court.

A year later, he was convicted of illegal possession of a firearm.

The suspect initially said he wanted to kill people in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris with a large immigrant population.

But he changed his mind after there were few people around and his clothing made it difficult to reload his weapon, prosecutors said of Friday’s shooting.

He then returns to his parents’ house and decides to go to the 10th Ward instead.

Last year, he was charged with racist violence after he allegedly stabbed migrants in a park east of Paris and cut open their tents with a sword.

Prosecutors said they searched his family home, computers and smartphones and found no links to extremist ideology.

The suspect said he got the weapon from a shooting club member four years ago, hid it in his parents’ house and had never used it before.

The Kurds, said to be the world’s largest ethnic group without a state, are a Muslim ethnic group that straddles Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.