PARIS (AP) — A man suspected of killing a Muslim worshipper in a French mosque has turned himself in to police in Italy, authorities said Monday.
French police began searching for the suspect after the attack Friday in the former mining town of La Grande Combe in southern France. The assailant recorded the attack on his phone, and security camera footage showed him shouting insults at God, local media said.
The French interior minister’s office said Monday that the suspect had surrendered to police in Italy, without elaborating.
Local prosecutor Abdelkrim Grini said Sunday that investigators are taking into account “the possibility that this was an Islamophobic act. It’s the one we’re working on first, but it’s not the only one,” he said.
The suspect is a man born in France in 2004, who lived in the area and did not have a criminal record, the prosecutor said.
“Racism and hatred based on religion will never have a place in France,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “Religious freedom is inviolable.”
The Grand Mosque of Paris condemned the attack in a statement and said the victim, a young man identified only as Aboubakar in French media, had just finished cleaning the mosque when he was killed.
A march was held Sunday at La Grand Combe in support of the victim and a gathering against anti-Islam crimes was held in Paris.
