Cherif Chekatt, the alleged extremist on the run after a deadly shooting at France's most famous Christmas market, had been on police radar and had more than two dozen convictions for crimes like robbery and other violence in three European countries.
Officials released details Wednesday about Chekatt, 29, as police fanned out in a massive manhunt a day after he allegedly shouted "God is Great" in Arabic amid gunfire and shootouts with police in northeastern Strasbourg that left two dead, one person brain dead and 12 others injured.
Police had been trailing Chekatt, a Strasbourg native and one of six siblings who was "well known" to authorities: He had 27 convictions in his criminal record, mostly in France but also in Switzerland and Germany, said Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz. Chekatt was also tracked by the domestic counterintelligence service the DGSI — France's equivalent of the FBI.
French police officers control a car at the French-German border following a shooting in Strasbourg, eastern France, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. A man who had been flagged as a possible extremist sprayed gunfire near the city of Strasbourg's famous Christmas market Tuesday, killing three people, wounding 12 and sparking a massive manhunt. France immediately raised its terror alert level. (AP PhotoChristophe Ena)
Authorities say he was flagged for radicalism in prison in 2015 and put on the "Fiche S" radical watch list then.
The 2016 court verdict in the southern German city of Singen, obtained by The Associated Press, said he was sentenced to prison in France in 2008 and in Basel, Switzerland, in 2013 for various robberies. News agency dpa reported that he was deported to France in 2017.
The verdict said Chekatt had worked for local authorities after leaving school, and had been unemployed since 2011. He had spent a total of four years in prison. The German robberies took place in Mainz, near Frankfurt, in 2012 and in Engen, near the Swiss border, in 2016.
EU flags fly at half staff outside the headquarters of the EU in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday, Dec., 12, 2018, in respect for the victims of the shooting attack at a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France, that happened Tuesday. An EU Summit will be held in Brussels starting Thursday. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)
Police on Wednesday were guarding a building in the outer area of Strasbourg where Chekatt is believed to have lived.
A neighbor, who asked not to be named as the gunman is still at large, said he was rarely home. She said she last saw him Monday from her window, which looks out on a common hallway, and he was with another man.
Young men from the apartment block said they knew him as someone who seemed destabilized by his time in prison. "You can just tell," said one, lightly touching the side of his head. They, too, feared being publicly named because the gunman is still being hunted by police.
A French gendarme patrols in the streets of the city of Strasbourg, eastern France, following a shooting, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. A man who had been flagged as a possible extremist sprayed gunfire near the city of Strasbourg's famous Christmas market Tuesday, killing three people, wounding 12 and sparking a massive manhunt. France immediately raised its terror alert level. (AP PhotoChristophe Ena)
His apartment is in a housing project considered a "sensitive zone" by French police, just three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Christmas market but seemingly a world away from its glittering boutiques and tidy streets.
Each door in the building is marked with the resident's name; the suspect's apartment, on the fifth floor, bears a white paper reading "Chekatt C." The other names reflected the ethnic mix of the neighborhood: French, German, Russian and Arabic.
The lock was broken and the shutters were closed. Several neighbors said they heard the police break in, but the atmosphere Wednesday was unusually calm after the overnight drama.
NEW YORK (AP) — Even as many Americans say they learn about the 2024 election campaign from national news outlets, a disquieting poll reveals some serious trust issues.
About half of Americans, 53%, say they are extremely or very concerned that news organizations will report inaccuracies or misinformation during the election. Some 42% express worry that news outlets will use generative artificial intelligence to create stories, according to a poll from the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The poll found 47% of Americans also expressing serious concern that news outlets would report information that has not been confirmed or verified, and 44% worry that accurate information will be presented in a way that favors one side or another.
Half of Americans say they get election news always or frequently from national news outlets, a percentage that is higher among older respondents, the poll found.
“The level of engagement is good,” said Michael Bolden, CEO of the American Press Institute. “The thing that's most concerning is that they're not sure they can actually trust the information.”
Years of suspicion about journalists, much of it sown by politicians, is partly responsible, he said. People are also less familiar with how journalism works. The poll found about half of respondents say they have at least a moderate amount of confidence in the information they receive from either national or local news outlets when it comes to the 2024 elections, though only about 1 in 10 say they have a great deal of confidence.
“There may have been a time when people knew a journalist because one lived on their block,” Bolden said. “The way the industry has been decimated, that's much less likely.”
Simply putting out the news often isn't good enough anymore, he said. There's a growing disconnect between news organizations and communities that the outlets need to address, by helping to let people know what journalists do and how people reporting news are their friends and neighbors, he said.
Outlets should lean into a convenor role, bringing people together for newsworthy events, he said.
About half of U.S. adults say they follow the news about presidential elections closely, with older adults being more engaged. About two-thirds of Americans age 60 or older say they keep a close eye on presidential election news, compared wth roughly one-third of those under age 30.
The same trend is seen with local and state election news. While the poll found that 46% of Americans age 60 or older say they follow news about local and state elections closely, only 16% of people age 18 to 29 said the same thing.
“As they transition to becoming older people, will they begin to care?” Bolden asked. “If they don't begin to care, what will that mean for local and state communities?”
Young people, those under age 30, are about as likely to get election news from social media or friends or family as they are to get it from national or local news outlets, the poll found. Black and Latino adults are somewhat more likely to express “a great deal” of confidence in the reliability of social media as a source of election news than white Americans are.
That's both a warning sign, since there is a lot more misinformation to be found on social media, and an opportunity for traditional outlets to make more of their work available this way, Bolden said.
About 6 in 10 Democrats say they get election news from national outlets at least frequently. That's more than the 48% of Republicans or 34% of independents, according to the poll. Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to express concern about inaccurate information or misinformation in news coverage during the upcoming elections. About 6 in 10 Republicans are concerned about this, compared with about half of Democrats.
Besides inaccuracies, many also expressed serious concern about election news that focuses too much on division or controversies or concentrates on who may win or lose — the horserace aspect of political coverage — rather than issues or the character of candidates.
Most Americans say that for them to make informed decisions about the 2024 state and local elections, they want national and local news outlets to highlight candidates’ values or their different positions on key social issues. In each case, about three-quarters of U.S. adults say they would like “a lot” or "some" coverage of these topics.
The poll of 2,468 adults was conducted March 21-25, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder.
FILE - Journalists line the press stand before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 15, 2024. Attitudes toward the media and political news ahead of the election were explored in a poll from the American Press Institute and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
