Paris shooter who killed three admits being "racist"

A 69-year-old white French gunman who opened fire at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris killing three people told investigators he was racist, AFP reported on Saturday, citing a source close to the case.

The attacker, identified as William M. was found with a case loaded with a box of at least 25 cartridges and "two or three loaded magazines", the source added, and the weapon confiscated with him was a "much-used" US Army Colt 1911 pistol.

The prosecutor's office also said on Saturday that following questioning of the suspect, investigators had added a suspected racist motive to initial accusations of murder and violence with weapons,

The gunman, who has a history of racist violence, is a gun enthusiast with a history of weapons offences who had been released on bail earlier this month.

The retired train driver was convicted for armed violence in 2016 by a court in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, but appealed.

A year later he was convicted for illegally possessing a firearm.

Last year, he was charged with racist violence after allegedly stabbing migrants and slashing their tents with a sword in a park in eastern Paris.