POLICE GET THEIR MAN AS MARKET SHOOTER IS KILLED

THE man authorities believe killed three people during a rampage near a Christmas market in Strasbourg has died in a shootout with police at the end of a two-day manhunt.

The Paris prosecutor’s office, which handles terror cases in France, formally identified the man killed in the eastern French city as Cherif Chekatt, 29, a Strasbourg-born man with a history of convictions, including for robberies.

Chekatt also had been on a watch list of potential extremists.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said police spotted a man matching the suspect’s description in the city’s Neudorf neighbourhood.

“The moment they tried to arrest him, he turned around and opened fire. They replied (killing the man),” Mr Castaner said.

Chekatt was suspected of killing three people and wounding 13 near Strasbourg’s Christmas market on Tuesday.

Mr Castaner said yesterday that three of the injured had been released from hospital and three others were fighting for their lives.

“Our engagement against terrorism is total,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet.

Five people have been arrested in connection with the investigation: Chekatt’s parents, two of his brothers and a non-family member.

Picture: AP PHOTO A hooded police officer holds his gun in Strasbourg during the operation (inset, top) that led to the death of Cherif Chekatt (inset, bottom) the man who killed three people near a Christmas market on Tuesday night.