Overview

• The French National Anti-Terror Prosecutor’s Office took over the case on June 2, marking its first probe into a racially motivated homicide linked to ultraright ideology.
• Suspect Christophe B., a 53-year-old French national, filmed and posted racist and hateful videos before and after the May 31 shooting that killed 46-year-old Hichem Miraoui and wounded a Turkish neighbor.
• Investigators recovered a pistol, shotgun and handgun in the suspect’s vehicle and are treating the killings as terrorist-style violence intended to spread fear.
• Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau denounced the act as “anti-French” and potentially terroristic; Tunisia’s Interior Minister Khaled Nouri demanded enhanced protection for his compatriots in France.
• The murder underscores a doubling of convictions for racist crimes over five years and has intensified calls for stricter hate crime legislation.