Paris shooter who killed three admits being 'racist'

PARIS

A 69-year-old white French gunman who opened fire at a Kurdish cultural centre in Paris killing three people told investigators he was racist, a source close to the case said on Dec. 24. 

The shots at the centre and a nearby hairdressing salon shortly before midday on Friday caused panic in the trendy 10th district of the French capital.

Three others were wounded in the attack that the gunman attributed to his being "racist", the source said.

He was found with a case loaded with a box of at least 25 cartridges and "two or three loaded magazines", the source added.

The weapon was a "much-used" US Army Colt 1911 pistol.French President Emmanuel Macron said "the Kurds in France have been the target of an odious attack in the heart of Paris" and ordered the Paris police chief to meet with leaders of the Kurdish community on Saturday.

The gunman, who has a history of racist violence, initially targeted the Kurdish cultural centre before entering a hairdressing salon where he was arrested.

Of the three wounded people, one was being given intensive care in hospital and two were treated for serious injuries.

The shooter -- named as William M. in the French media -- is a gun enthusiast with a history of weapons offences who had been released on bail earlier this month.

The retired train driver was convicted for armed violence in 2016 by a court in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but appealed.A year later he was convicted for illegally possessing a firearm.

Last year, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly stabbing migrants and slashing their tents with a sword in a park in eastern Paris."He is crazy, he's an idiot," his father was quoted as saying by the M6 television channel.