Deadly shooting near Paris is a 'racist terrorist attack', Macron says

French President Emmanuel Macron has called a deadly drive-by shooting near Paris a "racist terrorist attack" after one person was killed and several others were wounded in a series of shootings on Friday.

The attack unfolded in Trappes, a suburb south-west of Paris. Witnesses said a gunman driving a grey Renault Clio fired at a petrol station, a medical centre and a playground over the course of about 15 minutes. The suspected attacker, a 39-year-old man, was arrested in the nearby town of Coignières, according to French media. He was known to police but not to France's intelligence services, and he was not on a watchlist of people considered a serious security threat.

Visiting the scene in Trappes, Macron said people had been targeted because of their skin colour. He described the attack as a "turning point in the life of our Republic and our nation," according to the BBC.

The mayor of Trappes, Ali Rabeh, told reporters that the attack appeared to have a "racist, probably Islamophobic overtone." Among the wounded is a 12-year-old girl whose mother told French broadcaster RTL that she suffered eight gunshot wounds and had been wearing a headscarf.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the motive remained unclear but called it "clearly a terrorist crime." France's National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) has opened an investigation covering murder and conspiracy with a terrorist group, and a member of the suspect's immediate family was also taken into custody.