in The end, the French justice confirmed on Wednesday what many had feared since he knew that there had been a drive-by shooting in the centre of Strasbourg the previous night: “The terror again struck our country,” the prosecutor said terrorism Rémy Heitz. Despite the intense browsing device, the attacker, identified as Chérif Chekatt, a common criminal but radicalized 29-year-old, remained at large and were feared to have been able to hide in Germany, where they have also deployed many police forces.
While, Strasbourg, a city that until now had managed to dodge the attacks, he looked resigned how the sum, with at least two dead —a third assaulted is in brain death— and a dozen or so injured of varying severity, to the list of French and european cities hit by a scourge always latent.
“From the Bataclan (the concert hall in paris has been attacked by a terrorist brigade on the 13th of November 2015), we are more accustomed to,” explained Laurent Jean the quiet reply of the inhabitants. This manager of a souvenir shop next to the cathedral —and therefore in full shooting area— opened as an all-day business, but ended up closing on the recommendation of the authorities, who also decreed the closure of the historical Christmas market, the oldest in France, and the cancellation of all cultural events of the day.
efforts to find Chekatt were doubled throughout the day. More than 700 agents were looking for the assailant, who managed to flee in a taxi to the old quarter of the city despite having been wounded in a gunfight with forces of the order, according to the prosecutor’s office. “You can’t rule out” Chekatt has managed to pass to Germany, said the secretary of State of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, who noted that it has also reinforced the surveillance in the nearby border. The parents and two brothers of the assailant were arrested and were being interrogated.
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29 years, 27 convictions and radicalized in prison: the profile of Chérif Chekatt, the attacker of Strasbourg DIRECT Attack in Strasbourg, live | France intensifies the search of the terrorist with more than 700 policemen Strasbourg: the French city resigned to terror
The tributes of a country battered again and again by the jihadist terrorism from 2015 not ceased throughout the day.
Both the Government and the National Assembly kept in Paris with a minute of silence in honour of the victims. In Strasbourg, the bells of the cathedral tañeron ten minutes at noon “to join the suffering of the victims and all of its inhabitants”, according to the diocese. It is also observed a minute of silence in the European Parliament, which this week meets in Strasbourg. Many of its members, the attack caught them by surprise Tuesday night at the headquarters of the parliament, continued their session, but closed its doors until the early morning hours, or on the streets of the city. Meps, as the former president of the Partido Popular vasco Carlos Iturgaiz had to seek refuge sometimes for hours in restaurants or shops in the centre of the city.
in spite of everything, Strasbourg began to look for soon on how to retrieve the normal.
“life goes on and we have to prove that we are not afraid,” said Gabrielle, a retired that, though not hit her eye because you live in the area where the attack took place, he decided to go out to the streets from the early hours of the morning. Despite the safety devices and the uncertainty an aggressor still fled, was not the only one. As he passed the day, more citizens ventured back to Strasbourg, despite everything, quite exfoliated. Many took the opportunity to lay a flower or light a candle in some of the places where they fell the victims of Chekatt, who are now in points of tribute.
