French prosecutors have launched a terror investigation following a deadly shooting in southern France, where a man known for posting racist videos killed his Tunisian neighbour and seriously wounded a Turkish man.
The incident occurred late Saturday in Puget-sur-Argens, in the Var region. It comes following growing concern over hate crimes targeting Muslims in France, including the fatal stabbing of a Malian man at a mosque in southern France earlier this year.
Initially, regional prosecutors treated the shooting as a suspected murder motivated by ethnicity or religion. However, France’s national anti-terror prosecutors (PNAT) took over the case on Monday, citing evidence that the suspect sought to “disrupt public order through terror.”
The accused, a Frenchman born in 1971, fled the scene but was arrested shortly after following a tip-off from his partner. Prosecutors revealed that he had posted racist videos before and after the attack, spreading hateful content.
The victim, a Tunisian man born in 1979, was shot five times and died from his injuries. A Turkish national was also wounded in the hand and hospitalized.
A sports shooting enthusiast, the suspect reportedly declared allegiance to the French flag and urged others to “shoot” people of foreign origin in one of his social media videos, according to regional prosecutor Pierre Couttenier and French newspaper Le Parisien.
PNAT prosecutors have now opened an investigation into a “terrorist plot” motivated by race or religion. Anti-discrimination group SOS Racisme condemned the attack, highlighting a “poisonous climate” in France marked by the normalization of racist rhetoric and a spate of similar crimes in recent months.
The case recalls the stabbing in April of Aboubakar Cisse, a Malian man killed during prayers at a mosque in La Grand-Combe. That attack was carried out by a French national of Bosnian descent who later surrendered to Italian authorities and was extradited to France.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned the recent shooting as a “racist act” and emphasised that racism is a deadly poison, stating: “Every racist act is an anti-French act.” He also confirmed he had spoken with the Tunisian ambassador to express solidarity.