Manhunt after 'execution' shooting in Paris

It looked like a settling of scores, a local police officer said

Paris police are hunting a gunman after what a witness described as an "execution" shooting outside a hospital in the French capital.

A man in his 30s was killed and a female security guard injured at the Henry Dunant geriatric hospital, which is also a Covid vaccination centre.

Witnesses said the attacker shot the man in the head before calmly walking away and making off on a motorcycle.

The local mayor says terrorism does not appear to have been the motive.

The mayor of the wealthy 16th district, Francis Szpiner, added that the vaccination centre did not seem to be the target either. A local police officer told the BMFTV channel the attack looked like a settling of scores.

The manager of a nearby restaurant was among those who witnessed the shooting.

"I heard firing and I saw a bloke in a hoodie fire a bullet, and I saw a bloke lying on the ground," he told BFMTV.

The attacker then approached the man and fired two more bullets "at point-blank range" into his head, the witness added.

Both victims were treated at the hospital

A caretaker described hearing six shots.

"It was a real execution. Really shocking," another witness told Le Figaro newspaper.

Mr Szpiner said the woman, who was seriously hurt, appeared to have been hit by a stray bullet. She and the male victim were treated at the private Henry Dunant hospital.

The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder.

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