A man on the run suspected of shooting three people dead and injuring a dozen more near the Strasbourg Christmas market on Tuesday has been identified by police as 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt.
Some 350 officers are hunting for the suspect amid concerns of a follow-up attack, as Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the shooter, who is on a security watch list, evaded police. He was reportedly injured after exchanging with a soldier.
The attack is being treated as terror with an investigation underway.
“The government has raised its security threat to the highest level and is bolstering border controls,” Castaner told a late-night news conference.
“We will also reinforce security at all Christmas markets to prevent copycat attacks.”
One police source said Chekatt’s criminal record mentions 25 judicial cases, including several serious cases of robbery.
The official said his apartment was searched by police on Tuesday morning — hours before the shooting — in an investigation over attempted murder. He was not at home at the time.
According to the prefect of the Strasbourg region in the northeast of France, he had been flagged as a suspected extremist.
An official announcement from the French equivalent of the Home Office advised people in Strasbourg to remain indoors following the incident, which began at about 8pm local time, just as the market was coming to a close.
Chekatt was said to have entered central Strasbourg via the Corbeau bridge to the south of the city centre, before heading to Rue des Orfevres, a popular shopping street close to the cathedral, where he opened fire.
It is understood the Foreign Office has not yet received any reports of British nationals caught up in the shooting.
Journalists reported seeing several people wounded after hearing sounds similar to gunfire, while photographs and videos posted on social media appeared to show people receiving medical care.
Strasbourg, which is the capital of the Grand Est region of France, is known for its large Christmas market, which was being held amid tighter security this year, and for its outpost of the European Parliament.
A British MEP, Richard Corbett, said on Twitter that he was locked in a restaurant as a result of the incident.
An Irish MEP, Martina Anderson, said in a tweet that she was in the city centre when gunshots rang out.
Other MEPs tweeted to confirm they and their staff members were safe. The European Parliament building is around two miles from the centre of Strasbourg.
President Emmanuel Macron, who attended an Interdepartmental Crisis Centre meeting, left without speaking to reporters but later tweeted the “solidarity of the entire nation is with Strasbourg, the victims and their families”.
France remains on high alert after a wave of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State militants since early 2015, in which about 240 people have been killed.
Sinn Fein MEP Anderson said: “I was in the city centre at the time and heard the gunfire and people, including young children, running away in panic.
“This incident has caused panic in the area with crowds of people out enjoying the Christmas markets.”
Labour MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, Linda McAvan, tweeted: “There’s a shooting incident tonight in Strasbourg centre where Xmas market takes place. European Parliament on lock down. I and my staff are safe in the building.”
Witness Doris Manou told the BBC: “Earlier on I was walking around the Christmas market in centralStrasbourg and I passed Place Kleber where the shooting took place just minutes before it happened.
“Then I continued walking on Rue du Dome when I saw the army with a group of 10-12 soldiers walking towards me with their guns pointed to the street and around them everyone was running from all directions.
“The soldiers were very focused on their mission, they were running.”
She said she and several others then threw themselves to the floor in a courtyard of a building thinking there could be a bomb, before some students in a nearby building offered them refuge.