The bustle of holiday shopping gave way to a lockdown in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday after a gunman killed four people and\u2026<\/b>
\nThe bustle of holiday shopping gave way to a lockdown in the French city of Strasbourg on Tuesday after a gunman killed four people and wounded 11 others in a suspected terrorist attack, according to police union officials.
The shooter has been identified but remains at large after authorities went to his house and failed to find him. The 29-year-old suspect has a criminal record and has been linked to radicalism. FGP Police union official Stephane Morisse said officers found explosive materials at the home.
Morisse said soldiers guarding the city\u2019s world-famous Christmas market near the evening attack later shot and wounded the suspect before he escaped.
It\u2019s unclear if the market \u2014 which was the nucleus of an al-Qaida plot in 2000 \u2014 was targeted. The city is also home to the European Parliament, which was locked down after the shooting. So were other parts of the city.
French interior minister Christophe Castaner and Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, who oversees anti-terror probes in France, headed to Strasbourg. The prosecutor’s office said the investigation is for murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise.
Witnesses in central Strasbourg described hearing gunshots and screaming in a street near the market. Resident Yoann Bazard said he heard two or three shots followed by screams, then looked out his window and saw people running.
\u201cThere were two or three episodes like that,\u2019\u2019 Bazard, 27, said by phone. \u201cAs it got close, it was really shocking. There were a lot of screams.\u201d
Freelance journalist Camille Belsoeur said he was at a friend\u2019s apartment on the same street and at first mistook the gunfire for firecrackers.
\u201cWe opened the window,\u2019\u2019 Belsoeur said. \u201cI saw a soldier firing shots, about 12 to 15 shots.\u201d
He added that other soldiers yelled for people to stay indoors and told those outside to go home.
More: Terror-related deaths decline worldwide for third straight year, report says
Another witness, Peter Fritz, told the BBC one of the victims was a Thai tourist who had a head injury and didn\u2019t respond to efforts to revive him.
\u201cWe tried our best to resuscitate him,\u2019\u2019 Fritz said. \u201cWe applied CPR. We dragged him into a restaurant close by.\u2019\u2019
Fritz said the man was in his 30s and his wife appeared to be unharmed but in shock.
European Parliament president Antonio Tajani said the legislative sessions will continue for the rest of the week, adding that the legislature \u201cwill not be intimidated by terrorist or criminal attacks. Let us move on.\u2019\u2019
The attack came as France has been beset by four weeks of protests against President Emmanuel Macron, and police forces have been stretched by fighting, rioting and other protest-related unrest.
Macron adjourned a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday night to monitor the events, his office said.
Contributing: The Associated Press<\/p>\n