What happened in Trappes and La Verrière

The Trappes shooting unfolded at about 10.30am on Friday, when the gunman drove through the towns of Trappes and La Verrière in Yvelines, west of Paris. Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh said the man set out by car on Friday morning, firing at random as he crossed both towns.

Over the course of 15 minutes, he repeatedly fired an automatic weapon, first at a petrol station, then at a medical centre and a children's playground. One person was killed and five were wounded, among them a 12-year-old girl.

According to the French public broadcaster, the gunman first shot dead a young black man, then targeted a woman wearing a headscarf, before shooting the 12-year-old girl.

• The attack began at a petrol station and continued at a medical centre
• A children's playground was also targeted
• The shooting lasted roughly 15 minutes

The victims

Rabeh said the man killed was of African origin, and that another of the wounded was of north African origin. The 12-year-old girl was shot eight times and was being treated for her wounds at a children's hospital on Friday night.

La Verrière mayor Nicolas Dainville told AFP that two of the wounded in his town were cleaners of African origin who were attending to a school on Friday morning when the shooter got out of his car to fire. The anti-terrorism prosecutor said on Friday night that the medical status of the five wounded victims was not stable.

Rabeh said the girl was between life and death, saying: "A 12-year-old girl is between life and death after being targeted by a volley of automatic gunfire in our country. Her crime was probably being" of colour.

The suspect

The 39-year-old suspect, who was stopped by police in his car, was named by France's anti-terrorism prosecutor as Kevin T. When stopped, he was found with a sten gun – a British submachine gun used in the second world war – as well as teargas grenades.

Authorities said he had booby-trapped his home with gas canisters and electric wires connected to a timer. A member of his family was arrested and taken into custody for questioning.

Investigation and reactions

Anti-terrorism prosecutors are investigating whether the gunman targeted the real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion of the victims. Interior minister Laurent Nunez told reporters: "The investigations are ongoing, but it is clearly a terrorist crime. It is an extremely serious act".

Macron arrived at the scene of the drive-by shooting in Trappes on Friday night and described the attack as premeditated. He said: "What happened today marks a turning point for our country; what happened today was a terrorist and racist attack". He said the gunman had targeted people because of the colour of their skin, and that racism had often become part of the "ambient discourse in France" and created "an atmosphere".

He urged people not to let the terrorist attack divide them, calling for "respect and unity", and said many French people would be scared and thinking "this could happen to me".

Rabeh called it "objectively a racist attack, probably Islamophobic" and "probably one of the first attempts at a mass crime of Islamophobia and racism". He said the people targeted could just as easily have been his own family members, and called for collective condemnation of rhetoric that "ideologically arms those capable of carrying out such acts".

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, condemned what she called the "abject motive of racism" of the "barbaric act". Communist candidate Fabien Roussel wrote on social media that the far right was responsible for "racist hatred" in France.

The shooting follows one of the most violent days of unrest in years last Saturday, in which public buildings were burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted, and at least 2,400 people arrested across the country. Renewed protests over teacher shortages, crumbling high school buildings and the high cost of living are expected on Saturday. Le Pen is polling highly ahead of next spring's presidential election, when Macron steps down.