Wanted to commit suicide but caused casualties to more than a dozen people

A suicidal man crashed his car into a pizza restaurant in eastern Paris on the evening of August 14, killing a young girl.

Police surrounded the scene of the car crash in Paris - Photo: AFP

AFP news agency quoted a prosecutor as saying that the man targeted diners at a pizza restaurant in the French capital.

Authorities have also opened an investigation into the motive for the murder. "There is no doubt that he decided to cause this accident," said prosecutor Eric de Valroger.

Mr. Valroger said police did not find any weapons in the suspect's car.

Meanwhile, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet told Reuters news agency that the perpetrator of the car crash was a 32-year-old man who suffered from depression and was mentally unstable.

A photo posted on social media shows a gray BMW parked amid overturned tables and chairs in a seating area outside a restaurant. Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the photo.

Spokesperson Brandet said that in addition to the 12-year-old girl who died in the crash, five people were seriously injured, eight people had minor injuries and seven people were in shock.

"Everyone in the dining area outside the restaurant was hit," a witness told BFMTV.

AFP quoted a source as saying that the man who drove his car into the crowd had tried to commit suicide on August 13. "He tried to commit suicide on Sunday but failed and decided to try again this way," the source confirmed.

The prosecutor's office in Meaux said earlier that investigators believe the driver's actions "were intentional but not linked to terrorism".

Last week, a BMW also plowed into a group of French soldiers outside a barracks in the Levallois Perret area of ​​Paris, injuring six soldiers.

According to TTO