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Strasbourg Shooting Leaves 3 Dead in Possible Terror Attack

Strasbourg Shooting Leaves One Dead, EU Parliament on Lockdown

(Bloomberg) -- A shooting at the Christmas market in the French city of Strasbourg late Tuesday left three people dead and more than 10 wounded, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said. The attack is being investigated as a potential terrorist act, according to the Paris terrorism prosecutor.

Strasbourg Shooting Leaves 3 Dead in Possible Terror Attack

Shots were fired around 8 p.m., and the attacker was still at large shortly before 10:30 p.m., the local prefecture said, asking residents in the city center to remain inside. The shooter, born in Strasbourg, is 29 and flagged with a so-called Fiche S status, indicating an individual considered to be a threat to national security, Agence-France Press reported.

Strasbourg Shooting Leaves 3 Dead in Possible Terror Attack

The European Parliament in Strasbourg activated its emergency protocol and was in lockdown, parliamentarian Eva Kaili said in a post on Twitter. The parliament was closed, with no one able to leave until further notice, spokesman Jaume Duch said in a tweet.

The shooter was wounded by a military patrol, AFP reported, citing an unidentified police source. An exchange of gunfire occurred in the neighborhood where the attacker was hiding, AFP said.

Strasbourg Shooting Leaves 3 Dead in Possible Terror Attack

Access to Strasbourg’s city center was cut off for pedestrians, cyclists and road traffic about three blocks from the Kleber main square near the opera house. Local officials said the area would remain cordoned off for an undetermined period of time. Blue emergency-services lights could be seen several hundred meters away at the other end of nearby Place Broglie.

“The shooting happened in front of us,” EU lawmaker Nikos Androulakis said by phone from a cafe near the area. “As I was leaving the cafe, I heard gunshots, police took us inside, and we are now in lockdown with lights off. They told us the perpetrators are still at large. There are families, small children in here,” Androulakis said.

--With assistance from Marine Strauss and Helene Fouquet.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net;Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Kingdon at ckingdon@bloomberg.net, ;Nikos Chrysoloras at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten, Chiara Vasarri

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.