12-Year-Old Girl Shot 8 Times in 15-Minute Trappes Rampage

A 12-year-old girl was shot eight times and transported to a children's hospital for surgery following a shooting spree in Trappes, a suburb north of Paris, on Friday. The attack left one person dead and five others injured, including the girl who is of North African descent and was wearing a headscarf.

The gunman, identified as 39-year-old Kevin T., drove through the working-class communities of Trappes and La Verriere starting at 10:30 a.m. local time. He fired an automatic weapon at a petrol station, a medical centre, and a children's playground. Police arrested him after the rampage lasted approximately 15 minutes. The victim who died was named Pengo Bassio Wangi, described by local media as a young Black man.

Local MP Laurent Mazaury stated that the suspect told officers he intended to "kill foreigners." French media reported that the injured included a woman wearing a headscarf. Prosecutors announced that three of the five wounded are in critical condition. The girl's mother told broadcaster RTL that her daughter, who was born in Trappes, asked if she was targeted because of her headscarf.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez described the incident as a terrorist crime. Prosecutors are investigating whether the suspect conspired with a terrorist group and have taken a member of his immediate family into custody. Investigators found a World War II-era semiautomatic weapon and tear gas grenades in the suspect's vehicle. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said all security and judicial resources were mobilized for the case.

President Emmanuel Macron labeled the event a racist terrorist attack. Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh, who has Moroccan roots, said the gunman fired at random and aimed to cause a bloodbath. Rabeh noted that the victims could have been his own relatives and stated that the wounded girl's crime was probably being of colour.

The shooting occurred during a period of cost-of-living and student protests in France. Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 police officers on Saturday to manage expected demonstrations. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen called the shooting barbaric. Muslim groups criticized the populist right for fostering hatred, citing Le Pen's proposal to fine women who wear headscarves in public.

The French Muslim Council blamed promoters of anti-Muslim hate speech for the violence. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency reports that one in two Muslims in Europe face racial discrimination. In the United States, California's attorney general reported a 54 percent rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2025, increasing from 24 to 38 incidents.