The man suspected of shooting and killing three Kurdish people in Paris before Christmas weekend told investigators that he had gone out that morning with the aim of killing immigrants or foreigners and then himself, according to prosecutors.
Members of the Kurdish community in France and others held a silent march on Monday in honor of the three people who died.
The 69-year-old Frenchman was charged on Monday with
racially motivated murder and violation of the weapons law
after killing three people outside a Kurdish cultural center on Friday and wounding three others, after which he was disarmed and submitted by one of the wounded victims, the Paris Prosecutor's Office reported on Sunday.
The suspect told investigators that he had wanted to kill immigrants or foreigners and then planned to commit suicide, claiming he had a "pathological" hatred of non-European foreigners, according to prosecutors.
Emine Kara, a former fighter against the Islamic State in Syrian Kurdistan;
singer and political refugee Mir Perwer;
and Abdulrahman Kizil were the three shot dead to whom tribute was paid in the march in which a robust police device was deployed, according to the Efe news agency.
Kurdish activists hold flags during a march in honor of the murdered activists, Monday, December 26, 2022, in Paris.Lewis Joly / AP
“Every day we wonder when someone will shoot us again.
10 years ago we were attacked in the heart of Paris and 10 years later again,” Dagan Dogan, a 22-year-old Kurdish man, said at the march on Monday.
"Why was nothing done to protect us?"
Turkey also summoned the French ambassador on Monday over what it called "black propaganda" by Kurdish activists after the shooting.
Some demonstrated in Paris with banners of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or suggested that Turkey was linked to the shooting.
The suspect was briefly admitted to a psychiatric facility, but was later returned to ordinary police custody.
The suspect's name has not been officially released, although French media identifies him as William K.
The prosecution said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect told investigators that a burglary at his home in 2016 marked a turning point for him, triggering what he called a
"hatred of foreigners that became completely pathological."
The shooting in a lively Parisian neighborhood shocked and angered the Kurdish community, raising concerns about hate crimes at a time when far-right voices have gained prominence in France and across Europe.
Protests reported after an alleged racist attack against a Kurdish cultural center in Paris
Dec 24, 202200:23
The suspect told investigators that the morning of the shooting he first brought his weapon to the Parisian neighborhood of Saint-Denis with the aim of killing foreigners, but changed his mind, according to the prosecutor's statement.
He then went to the Kurdish center of Paris, which is close to his parents' house.
There he opened fire on a woman and two men, and then went into a Kurdish-run hair salon across the street and shot three men.
One of the injured men at the barbershop managed to detain him and hold him until the police arrived, according to the prosecutor's statement.
The suspect told investigators that he did not know his victims and
described all “non-European foreigners” as his enemies,
according to the statement.
Two of the injured remained hospitalized on Sunday with leg injuries.
Investigators are looking at his computer and phone, but have not found any confirmed links to extremist ideology, according to the statement.
On Saturday, members of France's Kurdish community and anti-racism activists joined in a rally of mourning and rage.
The rally was mostly peaceful, with protesters carrying portraits of the victims.
In 2013, three female Kurdish activists, including Sakine Cansiz, founder of the PKK, were found shot to death in a Kurdish center in Paris.
Kurdish activists hold portraits at the site where three female Kurdish activists were found shot to death in 2013, in Paris, Monday, Dec. 26, 2022, in Paris.Lewis Joly/AP
Since 1984, the PKK has led an armed separatist insurgency against the Turkish state in search of independence, which more recently has morphed into demands for greater autonomy.
The conflict has caused tens of thousands of deaths and many displaced people, and a considerable number of Kurds and suspected PKK supporters have emigrated to European countries.
The Turkish military has long been fighting Kurdish militants affiliated with the banned PKK in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
It has also recently launched a series of air and artillery strikes against Syrian Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria.
Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group, but Turkey accuses some European countries of being lenient towards suspected PKK members.
That frustration has been the main reason Turkey continues to delay Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership.