A gunman opened fire near a mosque in the French city of Brest, leaving two people injured. He was later found dead. There is no information whether the shooter targeted the mosque specifically.
Brest Prosecutor Jean-Philippe Recappe said the gunman opened fire as people were leaving the mosque in the city’s Pontanezen neigborhood.
According to local media, one of those shot was the controversial Imam Rachid Abou Houdeyfa. Having once been a proponent of ultra-conservative Islam, he became a so-called ‘Republic-compatible’ leader in 2016, helping the French government to train Muslims to “comply with the rules of secularism and living together with the French.”
A man got out of a car in front of the mosque and quarreled with another individual, then fired six or seven shots from a handgun before driving off, local media reported.
Police launched a manhunt for the attacker, who was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, AFP reported citing an unnamed police source.
France's Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner wrote on Twitter that extra security measures were being put in place at places of worship in response to the incident.
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