PARIS — The suspect in last week's shooting in the Paris suburbs has admitted he specifically targeted people he believed to be Muslim or of African origin, France's national counterterrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said on Thursday, as the case moved from investigation to formal charges.

Source: Associated Press

This is a new development in the case Awaaz Punjab first reported on October 23, when a gunman opened fire in Trappes and neighbouring La Verrière, a suburban area west of Paris, killing one person and wounding seven others before being arrested less than 20 minutes after the shooting began.

The suspect, a 39-year-old French national identified by authorities as Kevin T., now faces preliminary charges of murder and attempted murder aggravated by racist motives, the national counterterrorism prosecutors' office said. A judicial investigation has been opened into murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, with the aggravating circumstance that the crimes were committed because of the victims' actual or perceived race, ethnicity, nationality or religion, and the prosecutor asked that the suspect be held in pretrial detention.

"He admitted having specifically targeted" victims by appearance

Christen said the suspect admitted to "specifically targeting" people he believed to be Muslim or from sub-Saharan Africa or North Africa, based on their appearance, and that he "now acknowledged that the acts were premeditated." The suspect told investigators he chose Trappes because he regarded it as "a haven for Islamists," the prosecutor said. He denied any terrorist intent and said he had no regrets, Christen added.

Authorities identified the man killed as Pengo Bossio Wangi, a 26-year-old Black French national. Seven other people were wounded in the attack, which was carried out both from a car and on foot, according to the prosecutor's office.

France's president had already condemned the October 23 attack as a racist terrorist act, and the prosecutor's account of the suspect's own admissions now puts the alleged motive at the centre of the court case. Under French procedure, preliminary charges give investigating judges time to gather further evidence before deciding whether the case goes to trial.

The shooting has sharpened debate in France about racist violence and security in the suburbs, six months before next spring's presidential election. The suspect remains in custody while judges consider the detention request and the investigation continues.