Two people died and four have been wounded, including two in a critical condition, after a shooting in central Paris, French media reported.
Le Parisien newspaper said a 69-year-old man opened fire on a group of people at the Ahmet-Kaya Kurdish cultural centre on rue d’Enghien in the French capital’s 10th arrondissement.
Paris prosecutors told the public broadcaster, France Télévisions, that police had arrested the alleged gunman and seized his weapon soon after the shooting. The suspect, a French national, was a retired train conductor, according to reports.
An investigation has been opened for murder, voluntary manslaughter and aggravated violence, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office was quoted as saying.
One witness, a shopkeeper in the street, told Agence France-Presse that seven or eight shots had been fired, causing chaos. “It was just complete panic – everyone locked themselves in,” the woman said.
Paris police tweeted that a police operation was under way and asked people to avoid the area, which is close to a number of busy shopping streets and the Grand Rex, often described as Europe’s biggest cinema.