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Fourth person dies following Strasbourg Christmas market shooting

French authorities say a fourth person has died after Tuesday's Christmas market shooting in Stra...
Newstalk
Newstalk

20.58 13 Dec 2018


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Fourth person dies following S...

Fourth person dies following Strasbourg Christmas market shooting

Newstalk
Newstalk

20.58 13 Dec 2018


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French authorities say a fourth person has died after Tuesday's Christmas market shooting in Strasbourg.

It comes after the man suspected of opening fire near the Christmas market was shot dead.

Cherif Chekatt had been named as the chief suspect by police investigating the attack.

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Minister of the interior Christophe Castaner said the the 29-year-old suspect was killed in the Neudorf-Meinau area of the city after a police operation was launched at about 9pm on Thursday.

Three police officers had stumbled across a man they had believed was Chekatt and when they went to arrest him he turned to fire on them, Mr Castaner said.

The officers then shot and killed him.

Witnesses reported that at least three shots were heard.

President Emmanuel Macron thanked all police and military officers who'd taken part in the search over recent days:

Earlier on Thursday, dozens of members of France's elite RAID force cordoned off part of the Neudorf area as part of the search.

A police official told the AP news agency that security forces were acting on "supposition only" that the suspect, Cherif Chekatt, could be hiding in a nearby building.

In this image made from video, emergency services arrive on the scene of a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France | Image: AP/Press Association Images

However, the search came to an end without locating him.

More than 700 officers have been hunting Chekatt, after the 29-year-old escaped following a gunfight with police in the hours after Tuesday's attack.

The gunman had reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire.

Police are treating it as a terrorist incident.

Asked if police had been told to capture the killer dead or alive, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux earlier told France's CNews: "It doesn't matter. The best thing would be to find him as quickly as possible."

Hundreds of extra police and soldiers are being deployed to guard other public places, especially Christmas markets, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said.

Five people have been arrested as part of the manhunt, including Chekatt's parents and two of his brothers.

Chekatt had 27 convictions in France, Germany and Switzerland, and authorities believe he became radicalised while in jail.

He was also one of 25,000 people on the "S file" security risk - reserved for people suspected of extremism - and had been monitored since 2015.


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