PARIS: One person was killed and four others were seriously wounded when gunshots were fired from a vehicle in a Parisian suburb on Friday, French authorities said.

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office took charge of the case and said they will investiate whether the shooting was racially motivated.

A suspect was arrested and taken into police custody, police said.

“We ‌would ⁠like ​to thank ⁠our law enforcement agencies, which have already taken the suspect into custody. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the case,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X, expressing deep sorrow over ⁠the killing.

Interior minister Laurent Nunez said the shootings happened at three separate locations in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière, near Paris.

He said the suspect fired “what appears to have been a military-grade weapon, or at least an automatic weapon.”

Trappes Mayor Ali Rabeh told BFM TV that the gunman appeared to have fired relatively randomly, targeting passersby.

“It is a miracle that there were not more victims,” he said, adding that the suspect opened fire at various locations, including a playground.

Rabeh said the person killed was of African origin, while one of those critically wounded was of North African origin.

Deputy of the French National Assembly and former French prime minister Gabriel Attal condemned the shooting, saying the attacker appeared intent on causing the maximum number of casualties.

He said France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) had cited racist theories and the selection of victims based on skin colour and differences, adding that, if confirmed, the details would amount to “unspeakable barbarity”.

Attal warned that “hate kills” and “tears our country apart”, calling for it to stop and for an uncompromising response from the authorities. He also praised police for swiftly arresting the suspect, saying their courage had likely prevented a higher death toll, and expressed solidarity with the victims and affected residents.

France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s office said it opened a criminal investigation into several offenses, including “murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise with the aggravating circumstance that the act was committed on account of the victim’s actual or perceived membership of a particular race, ethnic group, nationality or religion.”

The shooting happened as France braces for another day of protests against the high cost of living on Saturday, with major museums closing their doors and the government deploying a significantly larger security presence to prevent a repeat of last week’s violent unrest which shocked the country.