Hunt continues for Christmas market gunman
French police conducted an intense but ultimately fruitless search operation Thursday in the Strasbourg neighbourhood where a suspected gunman who killed three people and wounded 13 near a popular Christmas market was last seen.
Security forces, including the elite Raid squad, took action in the Neudorf neighbourhood based on “supposition only” that 29-year-old suspect Cherif Chekatt could have been hiding in a building nearby two days after the attack, a French police official said.
Chekatt grew up in Neudorf, just south of the city centre.
The official, who could not be identified because he was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation, said the operation was sparked by reports of a person moving through gardens in the area, but nothing was found.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, speaking at the Senate while the roughly two-hour operation was underway, said it aimed at “removing doubts” but didn’t necessarily mean the suspect was in that area.
He said several similar police operations have taken place since the attack.
Chekatt allegedly shouted “God is great!” in Arabic and sprayed gunfire from a security zone near the Christmas market Tuesday evening. Authorities said he was also wounded during an exchange of fire with security forces.
Authorities said a taxi driver dropped Chekatt off in Neudorf after the shooting.
More than 700 officers have been searching for the suspect, who had a long criminal record and had been flagged for extremism, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told CNews television.
Asked about the instructions they received, Griveaux said the focus was catching the suspect “as soon as possible,” dead or alive, and to “put an end to the manhunt.”