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4 dead, as many as 8 wounded after possible terrorist shooting in French city

PARIS — UPDATE 6:25 P.M.: A witness in France has told the BBC that one of the people shot and killed in the city of Strasbourg was a Thai tourist who suffered a head wound and didn't respond to efforts to revive him.

Peter Fritz said after the gunfire near a Christmas market: "We tried our best to resuscitate him. We applied CPR. We dragged him into a restaurant close by."

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He says the man was in his 30s and his wife appeared to be unharmed but in shock.

Fritz says it took more than 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. He said an emergency doctor advised by telephone "that any further efforts would be futile."

Fritz said of the victim: "He is still here in this restaurant but we have abandoned all hope for him."

UPDATE 5:45 P.M.: Residents of central Strasbourg describe hearing a series of gunshots and screaming in the street during an attack near a Christmas market that killed four people.

Resident Yoann Bazard said by telephone he heard "two or three shots" and the screams before he went to a window and saw people running Tuesday night.

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The 27-year-old said: "After that I closed the shutters. Then I heard more shots, closer this time."

Bazard continued: "There were two or three episodes like that....As it got close, it was really shocking. There were a lot of screams."

Freelance journalist Camille Belsoeur says he was at a friend's apartment on the same street and at first mistook the gunfire for firecrackers.

Belsoeur said: "We opened the window . I saw a soldier firing shots, about 12 to 15 shots."

He says other soldiers yelled for people to stay indoors and shouted 'Go home! Go home!'" to those outside.

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UPDATE 5:25 P.M.:Two French police union officials say four people have died after a gunman started shooting near Strasbourg's Christmas market and the suspect was wounded, but is still at large.

One of the officials, Stephane Morisse from the FGP Police union, told The Associated Press authorities went to the alleged assailant's residence earlier Tuesday to arrest him but the 29-year-old suspected of ties to radicalism wasn't there. Morisse says police found explosive materials at the home.

Morisse said that after the evening shooting, soldiers guarding the Christmas market shot and wounded the suspect before he escaped

UPDATE 4:20 P.M.. - French prosecutors say a terror investigation has been opened into the shooting at a Christmas market in Strasbourg that has left two dead and up to eight wounded, including several in critical condition.

The Paris prosecutor, who is in charge of anti-terror probes in France, is heading to Strasbourg, according to a statement from his office. The prosecutor's office says the investigation is for murder and attempted murder in relation with a terrorist enterprise.

PARIS (AP) -- France's interior minister says two people are dead and up to 8 wounded, with several in critical condition, after a shooting in Strasbourg's city center near a world-famous Christmas market.

The suspect has been identified and has a criminal record, Christophe Castaner said. The prefect of the Strasbourg region says the gunman had been flagged as a suspected extremist.

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Authorities haven't given a motive for the shooting.

The European Parliament spokesman, meanwhile, says that the building is on lockdown in Strasbourg. Jaume Duch said that "the European Parliament has been closed and no one can leave until further notice." It wasn't immediately clear how many people were inside.

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Local authorities tweeted for the public to "avoid the area of the police station," which is close to the city's Christmas market. Strasbourg's well-known market is set up around the city's cathedral during the Christmas period and becomes a major gathering place.

It wasn't immediately clear if the market was the target of the attack or if there was any link to terrorism.

But France has been hit by several extremist attacks, including the 2015 Paris shootings, which killed 130 people and wounded hundreds, and a truck attack in Nice that killed dozens in 2016.

Some Strasbourg residents have reported on social media that they heard gunfire in some parts of the city center.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe tweeted that "the situation is still underway, priority is given to security forces and rescuers."

President Emmanuel Macron has adjourned a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday night to be able to monitor the events, his office said.

Strasbourg, about 310 miles east of Paris, is the seat of the European Parliament and on the border with Germany.