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One Tunisian citizen was killed and one Turkish national was injured in a racist attack in France's Var region on May 31, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced.
Retailleau stated on X that a suspect killed his Tunisian neighbor and injured a Turkish citizen in the attack.
"The investigation will determine whether the racist nature of these acts has been established, but videos published by the perpetrator leave no doubt on this point," Retailleau said.
According to Draguignan prosecutor Pierre Couttenier, a 53-year-old French man shot and killed his 35-year-old Tunisian neighbor and wounded a 25-year-old Turkish man in the hand during the Saturday evening incident in Puget-sur-Argens.
The prosecutor reported that the suspect "broadcast before and after his act two videos on his social media account with racist and hateful content." The suspect was described as a sports shooting enthusiast.
The wounded Turkish victim was transported to Frejus hospital.
Security forces were alerted by the suspect's girlfriend and arrested the perpetrator after he fled the scene by car. The GIGN intervention unit from Orange assisted with the arrest.
"Several weapons were found in his vehicle, including an automatic pistol type, a shotgun and a handgun," Prosecutor Couttenier said.
The suspect was placed in police custody.
The Draguignan prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "murder committed because of the belonging or non-belonging, real or supposed, of the victim to an ethnicity, a nation, a supposed race or determined religion, committed in conjunction with another crime and attempted murder committed for the same reasons."
The investigation was assigned to the Draguignan gendarmerie research brigade.
Interior Minister Retailleau said he spoke with the Tunisian ambassador to France to express compassion for the victim's loved ones and solidarity with the Tunisian community.
"I will speak with my Tunisian counterpart later today. Racism must be severely punished. When it leads to this savagery, the criminal justice response must be relentless," Retailleau stated.
SOS Racism association condemned the attack. President Dominique Sopo said, "racism has struck again in our country."
"The double crime that struck two men in Puget-sur-Argens is not a bolt from the blue. It is the result of meticulous work carried out by the racism camp aimed at making the expression of racism in words and deeds legitimate again," Sopo said.
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