People on the ground after a shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Photo / AP
People on the ground after a shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Photo / AP
Two French police union officials say four people have died after a gunman started shooting near Strasbourg's Christmas market and the suspect was wounded, but is still at large.
One of the officials, Stephane Morisse from the FGP Police union, told AP authorities went to the alleged assailant's residence earlier today to arrest him but the 29-year-old suspected of ties to radicalism wasn't there.
Morisse says police found explosive materials at the home.
Morisse said that after the shooting, soldiers guarding the Christmas market shot and wounded the suspect before he escaped.
A terror investigation has been opened. At least eight people were wounded.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said earlier that the suspect has been identified and has a criminal record.
The city centre was locked down as authorities tried to locate the assailant, whose hail of gunfire produced panic in the eastern French city that hosts France's largest Christmas market. Local police said that residents should avoid the area near their headquarters.
"Our security and rescue services are mobilised," Castaner said on Twitter. He was on his way to Strasbourg to monitor the situation in person.
At least one wounded person could be seen being evacuated on a stretcher through the narrow cobblestoned streets of the city centre, which was packed with tourists and residents. The European Parliament was also in session in Strasbourg, adding to the crowds in the city.
Christmas markets have become targets for terrorism in recent years, and one in Berlin was struck in 2016 when a truck ploughed through a crowd, killing 12. That year, several arrests were made in November in Strasbourg, and city authorities threatened to cancel the market if it received serious threats.
France has also been struck by weeks of political protests, some of them violent, as yellow-vested activists take to the streets to protest the economic policies of President Emmanuel Macron.
Witnesses interviewed on French television described a single hail of bullets in the frigid Strasbourg night.
One unidentified restaurant owner said he heard the shooting, ran in front of his establishment and saw a prone body lying outside on the ground.
Many shops in the city centre closed their doors and hid their frightened customers inside.
- additional reporting AP
Emergency services arrive on the scene of a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Photo / AP
