the ministry says the shooter apparently intended to attack the foreigners directly

“We saw an elderly white man enter the Kurdish cultural center and start shooting, and then he entered the barber shop next door,” Romain, who works at a nearby restaurant, told AFP by telephone.

The Kurdish Community Center, known as the Ahmet Kaya Center, is run by a charity that works to integrate Kurds in the Paris region.

Local resident Emanuels Buženāns told AFP the man was detained at the barbershop.

“People were in a panic, they called the police and pointed to the salon – ‘it’s there, it’s there, come in,'” the eyewitness said.

Two people slept on the cabin floor. Their legs were injured, she added.

As the Paris prosecutor’s office said, an investigation has been launched and “a 60-70 year old man has been arrested and is in custody”.

“The process of verifying his identity is ongoing,” the prosecutor’s office said.

A shop owner near the scene told AFP he heard seven or eight shots.

“There was total panic. We locked ourselves inside” the shop, the woman told AFP.

As confirmed by police sources, the killer is white and a French citizen. He is known to law enforcement in connection with two assassination attempts – in 2016 and 2021.

His motives are not yet clear, but his identity and his chosen target suggest that the attack was racially motivated.

The shooter was injured and taken to hospital, said the mayor of the 10th district, Aleksandra Kordebara.