The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Strasbourg attacker remains at large after market shooting
STRASBOURG, FRANCE — A shooting at a Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg has left two people dead and a third brain dead, prosecutors said on Wednesday, with witnesses saying the gunman shouted “Allahu akbar” — “God is greatest” — as he opened fire.
Police are searching for a Strasbourg-born man identified as 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt and have arrested four people close to him in connection with the attack, prosecutor Remi Heitz said. The attacker was carrying a gun and a knife.
Twelve people had been injured, six seriously, Heitz said.
A Thai tourist was among those confirmed dead, the Thai Foreign Ministry said. Anupong Suebsamarn, 45, had been visiting with his wife. His wife survived the attack and was being looked after by local authorities.
The Italian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that Italian journalist Antonio Megalizzi was among those in critical condition.
Italian media quoted the father of his girlfriend saying that Megalizzi was in a coma and that doctors were unable to perform surgery as a projectile was lodged too close to his skull and spine.
French prosecutors are treating Tuesday night’s attack as an act of terrorism. The suspect was on a state security watch list, but also had a criminal record for non-terrorist offenses.
A spokesman for French President Emmanuel Macron said that “the threat of terrorism is still in the heart of our nation.”
France has been targeted by multiple terrorist attacks since 2015, many of which had been carried out by individuals affiliated with the Islamic State militia.
In the wake of the latest assault, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced an additional 1,300 soldiers for the so-called Operation Sentinelle, a military force created in the wake of the January 2015 Islamist attack on the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Chekatt is known to have served several prison sentences in Germany, Switzerland and France. Overall, Heitz said the attacker had 27 convictions and that it was believed he had been radicalized while in prison.
A spokesman for the government in Luxembourg said its police had also been looking for Chekatt in connection with an attempted burglary in 2012.
The attacker first opened fire on Tuesday at 7:50 p.m. Soldiers from an army anti-terrorism patrol shot at him but he escaped in a taxi. The taxi driver later confirmed to investigators that the attacker was injured.
The man then exchanged fire with security forces twice more in slightly over an hour.
Some 600 police and security personnel are looking for the attacker in and around Strasbourg, which is near the German-French border.
Germany’s Interior Ministry said it had ramped up controls at the border since the shooting. A spokeswoman said the new measures included vehicle and identity checks.
German police also said they were searching for the attacker’s brother, Sami, in connection with the attack.
A spokeswoman for the Koblenz police confirmed that a 19-mile stretch along the French-German border, encompassing the German states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, was being searched for both brothers, as it is possible Cherif fled into Germany.
Police in Bavaria increased its checks along its border with the southwestern state Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavarian interior minister Joachim Hermann said. Baden-Wuerttemberg is one of the German states bordering France.
Police forces in Italy were also urged to be vigilant in the wake of the attack, following a directive from the Italian Interior Ministry after an extraordinary anti-terrorism meeting.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said five people have been arrested in connection with the search, but none of them have anything to do with the attack.
The Strasbourg Christmas market, one of the bestknown in France, takes place in the center of the city. It is a popular tourist attraction and draws tens of thousands of people every day.
The market remained closed on Wednesday. Several schools also canceled lessons for the day.