Abdelhakim Dekhar, Paris shooting suspect, served four years in prison

GlobalPost

Abdelhakim Dekhar, the man suspected of carrying out a shooting at a Paris newspaper earlier this week, was arrested late Wednesday after a nationwide manhunt.

He is currently in custody at a suburban Paris hospital.

Dekhar is suspected of shooting and seriously wounding a photographer's assistant at the offices of left-leaning Liberation newspaper on Monday. From there, he apparently fired into the lobby of the Societe Generale bank's headquarters.

He is also believed to have threatened staff at a Paris television station last Friday, leaving behind spent cartridges.

Police were able to match DNA found on spent cartridges at the crime scenes to Dekhar.

Authorities said Dekhar, who was found semi-conscious after an apparent suicide attempt, had a criminal past.

The suspect served four years in prison in the 90s as an accomplice to a high-profile robbery and police chase known as the "Rey-Maupin affair" that left three police officers, a taxi driver and one of the robbers dead.

At the time, he told the court that he was working for Algerian secret security and denied involvement in the robbery.

After his release from prison he dropped out of sight, living in London for several years it is believed.

More from GlobalPost: Paris shootings: Police hunt gunman who fired on newspaper office, bank

Police found two notes from Dekhar written before the shooting. One was described as a suicide note and the other a diatribe against politicians and the media.

About the media Dekhar wrote that they are “participating in the manipulation of the masses, journalists are paid to make the citizens swallow lies with a little spoon.”

He also made a vague reference to Syria, police say.

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