Strasbourg gunman Cherif Chekatt shot dead by French police
From the French edition of The Local
Cherif Chekatt the gunman on the run since he killed three people at Strasbourg’s popular Christmas market was shot and killed by police in the Neudorf area of the city.
Police sources have told French media that Chekatt was shot dead during the operation that took place just after 9pm.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said: “At 9pm a local police unit spotted a man wandering in the street who matched the individual who had been hunted since Tuesday night. At the moment he was stopped the individual turned to face police and opened fire. Police responded and neutralized the gunman.”
A video was widely shared on Twitter claiming to show members of the pubic in Neudorf applauding French police after news spread that Chekatt had been found and killed.
Over 700 police and specialist anti-terror officers had joined the hunt to find the suspect who was a hardened criminal and known to authorities for having been radicalised to an extremist form of Islam.
While there were fears he may have fled into neighbouring Germany French police concentrated their searches on the Neudorf and Meinau areas, where Chekatt grew up.
Just before reports emerged that police had tracked down the suspect France’s Interior Minister Christophe Castaner announced that the city’s famed Christmas market would reopen again on Friday. Security around the market would be boosted with the number of access points reduced and shoppers subject to more checks.
“We can’t give in to fear because life, the festivities, our culture, the joy, of which this Christmas market is a symbol, must win through,” said Castaner.
At least a Christmas market will be a handy place to find candles.