<" />

Strasbourg shooting: Tourists and locals among the victims

Filed under: All News,more news,RECENT POSTS,Somali news |

Patrick Hertzog, AFP | A man lights a candle in tribute to the victims of a deadly shooting
the day before in central Strasbourg on December 12.

French authorities have identified the suspect in the attack on the city’s famous Christmas market as 29-year-old Strasbourg-born Chérif Chekatt.

Two people died at the scene and a third victim died Thursday in hospital. Around a dozen others were injured in the attack, six of them critically, authorities said.

Of those killed, the only victim to be named so far is 45-year-old Anupong Suebsamarn, a Thai citizen who was on holiday in Strasbourg with his wife, who was also injured in the attack.

A Thai foreign ministry spokeswoman says the country’s embassy in Paris has confirmed the death.

The English-language website of the newspapaer Khao Sod said Anupong was the owner of a noodle factory in Chachoengsao province east of Bangkok and also sold clothes in the Thai capital’s garment district.

The paper quoted his uncle as saying the couple had originally planned to go to Paris but the Yellow Vest protests caused them to change plans and go to Strasbourg instead.

Spokeswoman Busadee Santipitaks said Thai officials have asked French authorities and members of the Thai community in Strasbourg to help Anupong’s widow. Thai consular officials travelled there Wednesday to provide further assistance.

Media reports have identified another of those killed as a 45-year-old Frenchman.

View image on Twitter
According to Franceinfo he was shot while leaving a restaurant in the centre of the city, where he had been enjoying pre-dinner drinks with his family.

The man left braid-dead by the attack is reportedly a 40-year-old local garage owner originally from Afghanistan. He frequented the Eyyûb Sultan Mosque in Strasbourg and was shot in the head, a mosque representative told Le Parisien newspaper.

Italian journalist in critical condition

Among the injured is a young Italian radio journalist, according to Italian media. The ANSA news agency said that 28-year-old Antonio Megalizzi was struck by a bullet at the base of his cranium and is in critical condition. ANSA said his parents, sister and girlfriend have travelled to France to join him.

Italian daily La Repubblica reported that Megalizzi, a journalist with the Europhonica radio consortium, arrived in Strasbourg on Sunday to follow a session of the European Parliament, which is located in the city.

View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
People are commemorating the victims. Hundreds of candles, lots of flowers at a dozen of locations. Cyclists riding by are stopping.

Otherwise streets are mostly empty, instead of crowds who would have been having fun on Christmas markets

 Europhonica posted a Facebook message saying it cannot confirm any news about his health. It also told Local newspaper Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace that another of its employees, a Strasbourg local, had been injured.

L’Est Républicain reported that two people from the Vosges department in eastern France were injured in the attack, one of whom was shot in the back of the neck and was in intensive care as of midday Wednesday. The other is an 18-year-old woman who underwent an operation and is out of danger, it said.

The Strasbourg-based art collective and performance space Mimir told Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace that two of their members, both musicians, were injured near the Savons d’Hélène café where they were performing. One of them, a percussionist, was shot in the neck and is in a coma. The second, a guitarist, was also injured but less seriously.

A third man, also with links to Mimir, is in a serious condition with a head injury, the newspaper said.

A house painter and father of two was also severely injured, according to Le Parisien.

Meanwhile, the manager of a local cheese shop, Christelle Lorho, said on her Facebook page that her daughter Jeanne, 18, had been shot in the arm.

“She was operated on tonight and is wake. We are lucky and happy that she is still with us,” she wrote.

According to a tweet by Poland’s embassy in Paris, a Polish citizen was also among the injured.

Source:France24.com