Manhunt continues for Christmas market shooter who killed two people as it is revealed Thai tourist victim was meant to visit Paris but cancelled due to Yellow Vest protests
- 720 French police are hunting Cherif Chekatt, the Strasbourg shooting suspect
- Helicopters, roadside checks, border surveillance and house searches all used
- Chekatt left two dead, one brain-dead, and injured 12 in Christmas market attack
- Anupong Suebsamarn, 45, who was shot dead, had been planning to visit Paris with his wife but they changed their plans due to the Yellow Vest protests
Cherif Chekatt, 29, is being hunted by French police after opening fire at a Christmas market in Strasbourg this week, killing two
French police are continuing their desperate search for the Strasbourg shooter two days after he turned a quaint Christmas market into a bloodbath.
In total 720 police and gendarmes have been scouring a huge section of eastern France using helicopter sweeps, roadside checks, border surveillance and house searches, but have uncovered no trace of 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt.
Another 500 troops have been sent to guard public places including Christmas markets amid fears Chekatt will attack again, with 1,300 more due to join soon.
There are also fears that he could have fled across the border into Germany, where he has a history of arrests.
Officers have warned that Chekatt, who has been convicted 27 times starting when he was just 13, should be considered dangerous and not to approach him.
Meanwhile it was revealed that 45-year-old Anupong Suebsamarn, who was shot dead at the market, had not intended to be in Strasbourg at the time.
Suebsamarn had been planning to go to Paris with his wife, but had changed plans at the last minute because of the Yellow Vest protests, which have seen some of the city’s busiest landmarks paralysed by rioting.
In total 720 police and gendarmes have been searching for Chekatt across a vast swathe of eastern France, using helicopters, roadside searches and border surveillance
Hundreds of troops have also been drafted in to guard public places, including Christmas markets, amid fears Chekatt will attack again
Anupong Suebsamarn, 45, who was shot dead at the market had not initially planned to be there and was supposed to be in Paris, but changed his plans at the last minute
One Italian, 28-year-old Antonio Megalizzi, was reported to be in critical condition.
Italian daily La Repubblica reported he was in Strasbourg to follow the session of the European Parliament.
After initially reporting that three people had died, authorities revised that and said one was brain-dead, while 12 people were wounded, six of them gravely.
Amid the hunt for Chekatt, France raised its three-stage threat index to the highest level and bolstered troops around France.
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Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said that the French native, born in Strasbourg, had run-ins with police starting at age 10.
Chekatt was mostly convicted in France but also in Switzerland and Germany, for crimes including armed robbery.
He had been flagged for extremism and was on a watch list, but the interior minister said ‘the signs were weak’.
‘It’s a large zone and the search is difficult,’ senior Interior Ministry official Laurent Nunez said on France-Inter radio.
Strasbourg is on the border with Germany, where the suspect was convicted in 2016 of breaking into a dental practice and a pharmacy in two towns.
German lawyer Thomas Röder, who served as Chekatt’s public defender, told Bild that he was a very religious man, but otherwise did not seem radicalised.
He said: ‘The only thing that attracted attention was his very religious attitude. He made a point of never taking alcohol or illegal drugs.
Police have warned that Chekatt should be considered dangerous and that if any member of the public they should inform authorities and not approach him
Candlelit vigils were held in Strasbourg for the victims of the shooting on Wednesday. Two people died, one was left brain-dead, and 12 more were wounded
People lay candles and flowers in tribute to those who died in Place Kléber, in Strasbourg
‘It was also important to him that he did not have to eat pork in the prison. My client was actually a very sociable type, often joking.’
Prosecutor Remy Heitz said the man attacked with a handgun and a knife about 8pm local time on Tuesday, and was shot in the arm during an exchange of fire with soldiers during his rampage.
He then took a taxi to another part of the city, boasting of the attack to the driver, and later exchanged more gunfire with police and disappeared, Mr Heitz said.
Witnesses described shots and screams after the gunman opened fire and yelled ‘God is great!’ in Arabic, the prosecutor added. Swaths of the city were under lockdown for hours.
The attack in the heart of old Strasbourg, near its famous cathedral and within the Christmas market that draws many tourists, unsettled the border city that also is home to the European Parliament.
The German government said it had stepped up controls on the border with France but did not change its threat level.
‘All terrorist attacks touch all of France, and it’s plain to see each of the attacks have hit a highly symbolic point or moment,’ Mr Philippe told parliament.
He listed violence since 2015 that killed more than 200: at the Charlie Hebdo satiric newspaper, a Kosher store, restaurants, bars and a concert hall in Paris; along the famed seaside promenade in Nice; and even inside a church in a quiet suburb of the northern city of Rouen, among others.
There are fears that Chekatt could have fled across the border to Germany, where he has link and has been arrested at least once
French police (pictured in Strasbourg) have revealed that Chekatt has a lengthy criminal history that began when he was just 10 years old
Members of the French BRI unit – meaning the Research and Intervention Brigade – conduct searches around Strasbourg in the hunt for Chekatt
Strasbourg’s Christmas market ‘is a family and brotherly celebration that speaks about hope and what unites us. It’s this celebration that was hit yesterday by a terrorist act,’ he said.
The city was in mourning, with candles lit at the site of the attack, and the Christmas market was closed at least through Thursday, according to regional prefect Jean-Luc Marx.
The attack came as President Emmanuel Macron sought to take back control of the nation after a month of anti-government protests that have spread violence across the country.
It came only 24 hours after he broke a long public silence and appealed for calm amid the mushrooming ‘yellow vest’ protest movement that seeks a better standard of living for ordinary citizens.
He offered a package of measures, but it was not clear if that would halt the weekend protests.
‘The terrorist threat is still at the core of our nation’s life,’ government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux quoted Mr Macron as saying at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Interior Ministry official Mr Nunez said Chekatt had been radicalised in prison and had been monitored by French intelligence services since his release in late 2015, because of his suspected religious extremism.
Mr Nunez told France-Inter that police went to his apartment in an outer neighbourhood of Strasbourg on Tuesday morning. Authorities said he was not there, although five other people were detained.
Police seized a grenade, a rifle and knives in the operation, Mr Heitz said.
Yellow Vest protesters urged to stay off the streets
The French government has urged Yellow Vest protesters to hold off another round of demonstrations scheduled to take place in Paris this weekend.
Spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said ministers decided against banning the marches outright, but asked people to be ‘reasonable’ amid a massive manhunt for Strasbourg shooter Cherif Chekatt.
It comes after conspiracy theorists accused the government of staging the terror attack in order to quash the Yellow Vest movement.
Yellow vest protesters clash with police firing tear gas during demonstrations in Paris last Saturday. French authorities have urged activists to cancel a march this weekend
Writing in online forums, one protester said: ‘You’ll see next week there won’t be a single yellow vest. Well played, Macron.’
Another added: ‘Coincidence, chance? Or just manipulation!’, while a third said: ‘They want to create fear so that people don’t take to the streets.’
President Emmanuel Macron has already offered the marchers a £9billion package of concessions including pay rises and tax cuts.
But many complained that the measures were too little, too late, and vowed to continue with weeks of protests, which have often turned violent.
‘Our security forces have been deployed extensively these past few weeks,’ Griveaux said, while insisting that ‘it’s not up to us to say if the movement should be called off or not.’
The request comes after conspiracy theorists accused the government of staging the Strasbourg attack in order to quash their movement
In the wake of the Strasbourg attack, ‘it would be better if everyone could go about their business calmly on Saturday, before the year-end celebrations with their families, instead of demonstrating and putting our security forces to work once again.’
Last Saturday nearly 90,000 police were mobilised across the country for the protests, with 8,000 officers and a dozen armoured vehicles deployed in the capital where scores of stores, museums and monuments were closed.
But protesters still smashed windows, looted stores and burned dozens of cars in many parts of the city.
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