Hundreds gathered at Marseille’s Vieux-Port on Monday after a fatal shooting near Paris, while prosecutors reported seven injured and retained a terrorism-related charge in the investigation.
Marsactu and Agence France-Presse (AFP) described the Marseille crowd as several hundred. Euronews reported a police estimate of 800 and said organizers counted more than 1,000. Janna, 23, told Marsactu the shooting felt personal: “It could have been us in Trappes.” Solidaires 13 said the shooting came amid what it described as the normalization of racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric. Prosecutors say the suspect’s motive remains under investigation.
Olivier Christen, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor, said gunfire struck eight locations in Trappes and La Verrière. He reported one death and seven people with physical injuries: four serious and three less serious. Christen corrected a wounded girl’s age from 12 to 11 and said her life was no longer in danger. One other seriously injured person remained in life-threatening condition; eight people targeted by gunfire were not physically hurt.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) retained a terrorism-related charge with an aggravating factor based on victims’ actual or perceived racial, ethnic, national or religious identity. Christen said suspect Kévin T., 39, disputes the racist characterization of the crimes but does not contest the material facts. He cited cases involving Mohamed Merah in 2012, La Grande-Motte in 2024 and Puget-sur-Argens in 2025 as precedents for the same factor.
Christen said custody could continue until 7:36 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 28 (23:36 UTC), or 12:36 a.m. CET Thursday, Oct. 29. AFP reported additional gatherings in Lyon and Paris on Monday evening.
