STRASBOURG, France -- French police conducted an intense but ultimately fruitless search operation Thursday in the Strasbourg neighborhood where a suspected gunman who killed three people and wounded 13 near a popular Christmas market was last seen.
Security forces, including the elite Raid squad, took action in the Neudorf neighborhood based on "supposition only" that 29-year-old suspect Cherif Chekatt could have been hiding in a building nearby two days after the attack, a French police official said. Chekatt grew up in Neudorf, just south of the city center.
The official, who could not be identified because he was not authorized to disclose details of the investigation, said the operation was sparked by reports of a person moving through gardens in the area, but nothing was found.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, speaking at the Senate while the roughly two-hour operation was underway, said it aimed at "removing doubts" but didn't necessarily mean the suspect was in that area. He said several similar police operations have taken place since the attack.
Chekatt allegedly shouted "God is great!" in Arabic and sprayed gunfire from a security zone near the Christmas market Tuesday evening. Authorities said he was also wounded during an exchange of fire with security forces.
Authorities said a taxi driver dropped Chekatt off in Neudorf after the shooting.
More than 700 officers have been searching for the suspect, who had a long criminal record and had been flagged for extremism, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told CNews television.
Asked about the instructions they received, Griveaux said the focus was catching the suspect "as soon as possible," dead or alive, and to "put an end to the manhunt."
Prosecutors have opened a terror investigation.
So far five people have been arrested and remanded in custody in connection with the investigation, including Chekatt's parents and two of his brothers. The Paris prosecutor's office said the fifth, who was arrested Thursday at an undisclosed location, was a member of Chekatt's "entourage" but was not a family member.
Police distributed a photo of Chekatt, with the warning: "Individual dangerous, above all do not intervene."
France has raised its three-stage threat index to the highest level since the attack and deployed 1,800 additional soldiers across the country to help patrol streets and secure crowded events.
The death toll rose to three Thursday with the death of a victim who had been declared brain-dead earlier. Five of the wounded were in serious condition, the prefecture of the Strasbourg region said.
French authorities said Chekatt, born in Strasbourg, had run-ins with police from the age of 10 and his first conviction at age 13. He has been convicted 27 times, mostly in France but also in Switzerland and Germany, for crimes including armed robbery, had been flagged for extremism and was on a watch list.
French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in Brussels where he was attending a European summit, said Castaner would travel to Strasbourg later Thursday. EU leaders held a minute of silence for the victims.
In the wake of the attack, Griveaux called on protesters who have become known as the "yellow vests" and who have been demonstrating across France since last month not to take to the streets again this weekend. Some members of the movement planned a fifth round of demonstrations on Saturday to demand tax relief.
Strasbourg's usually busy streets were eerily empty Thursday morning, with a heavy police and military presence. The Christmas market was closed at least through Thursday, authorities said.
Some lit candles and brought flowers to a makeshift memorial at the site of the attack.
"You can feel a very heavy atmosphere due all these events," said resident Lucille Romance. "People are in a state of shock and are avoiding getting out of their house."
The dead included a Thai tourist, 45-year-old Anupong Suebsamarn, according to the Thai Foreign Ministry.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said one Italian was among the wounded, in critical condition. The Europhonica radio consortium said Antonio Megalizzi, 28, was in Strasbourg to follow the session of the European Parliament.
Jean-Francois Badias in Strasbourg, Elaine Ganley and Samuel Petrequin in Paris, Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy and Raf Casert in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this story.
NW News on 12/14/2018