French police search for gunman who killed one near Paris hospital

One person was killed and another seriously injured when gunfire erupted near a hospital in Paris on Monday afternoon, prosecutors told dpa, with the shooter still on the run hours later.

Prosecutors said they are investigating the case as murder and attempted murder.

It was assumed to be some kind of settling of accounts, not a terrorist attack or an attack on the Covid-19 vaccination centre, which was also located there, said Francis Szpiner, the borough's mayor.

The incident took place in front of the Henry Dunant hospital in the upscale 16th district in the south-west of the capital.

Prosecutors said the victim who died was a 33-year-old man and the injured woman, also 33, was is life-threatening condition. She was reportedly a member of the security staff.

According to the mayor, the victim was targeted several times by the perpetrator. The woman was probably hit by a stray bullet. The suspect fled on a scooter or motorbike and was still not in police custody by the late evening.

Gunman shoots man dead, injures woman in front of Paris hospital

The dead man was already known to authorities for drug trafficking and gang-related murder, the French news agency AFP reported, citing investigative circles.

The geriatric hospital is located near the Porte de Saint-Cloud. It is also currently home to a vaccination centre against Covid-19.

"I heard a bang, and I saw a guy in a hood firing a bullet, and I saw a guy on the ground," BFM TV quoted the manager of a restaurant located across the street from the scene as saying.

The attacker shot at the victim at close range, then got on his vehicle and drove away, he said.