Leading French newspaper Le Monde has published and then quietly corrected a claim that leaflets from the Rassemblement National (RN) had been found in the car of the man suspected of a deadly drive-by shooting in the Yvelines.
On October 23, a deadly drive-by shooting struck Trappes and La Verrière, two towns southwest of Paris, where one person was killed and four others seriously wounded, including a 12-year-old girl.
All the victims were people with a migration background and the suspect was a 39-year-old white man, Kévin T. The man who died was named as Pengo Bossio Wangi, 26, whose family said he was a practising Christian.
President Emmanuel Macron immediately labelled the attack a “racist terrorist attack” and a “turning point”, describing it as the first time a planned terrorist act had targeted French citizens and children on the basis of skin colour or perceived religion.
French media was also quick to present him as a right-winger and connect him with the RN, saying leaflets of the party were found in his car.
Early reporting, led by Le Monde, stated that the suspect told police he had deliberately targeted “Blacks and Arabs” in order to “avenge shopkeepers” whose businesses were looted during the violent protests of October 17.
Those protests against the cost of living degenerated into looting in most large French cities. The government said at least 3,000 shops were affected, 2,397 people were arrested and 997 police, gendarmes and firefighters were injured.
Investigators also found a copy of Mein Kampf, a Bible and a Koran at his home.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office (PNAT) opened an investigation for murder and attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise with the aggravating circumstance of race, ethnicity or religion.
Across France, several rallies “against racism and Islamophobia” were organised.
By October 26 the picture had shifted. The suspect, who told police he was under treatment for schizophrenia and tested positive for cannabis and cocaine, was transferred for psychiatric observation after his custody was suspended.
National anti-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen said he does not contest the material facts but contests the racist character of the crimes. A fresh psychiatric examination found no clinical signs of an incapacitating condition and custody resumed at 2.46pm on October 26.
The prosecutor explicitly denied the presence of any political leaflets in the vehicle, prompting the RN to denounce Le Monde’s original report as a baseless smear timed for political effect. He also said 128 rounds had been fired across eight crime scenes along a route of about 12 kilometres.
In a reaction to the prosecutor’s statement, Marine Le Pen said: “By disseminating unfounded, false, and tonight refuted information from the public prosecutor, the newspaper Le Monde has once again lent itself to a militant operation aimed at tarnishing the Rassemblement national.”
“This blatant disinformation manoeuvre raises questions among the French about the essential issue of the objectivity and professional rigour that one is entitled to expect from the media during a presidential campaign.”
En diffusant une information infondée, mensongère et démentie ce soir par le procureur de la République, le journal Le Monde s’est une fois encore prêté à une opération militante visant à salir le Rassemblement national.
Cette manœuvre de désinformation manifeste interroge les… https://t.co/kr1WEXR0cG
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) October 26, 2026
Jordan Bardella said: “We are now awaiting a mea culpa and public apologies from the ‘newspaper of record’.”
Following the denial and intense criticism Le Monde discreetly amended its original article and removed the assertion. Its first headline said RN leaflets had been found in the suspect’s car; the amended version said new investigative findings confirmed his racist motive.
There was no overt editorial correction or apology to readers acknowledging that the information was incorrect.
As for the investigation into the shooter, police recovered a Sten-type submachine gun, weapon parts and ammunition, a knife, tear gas, handcuffs and a police armband in Kévin T.’s car.
Compounding the threat, authorities revealed that the suspect had booby-trapped his apartment with a device of three gas cylinders wired to a timer that, while crudely assembled, was fully functional and capable of destroying the home along with neighbouring units had tactical RAID officers not intervened.
Investigated for terrorism and racially motivated murder after a brief psychiatric evaluation cleared him for police custody, Kévin T. remains detained as investigators piece together the timeline of his deadly assault. Four people held alongside him were released on October 25 without further action at this stage.
Other details about the suspect have also been shared.
Photographs that circulated show the suspect at a 2018 public event organised by the Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) alongside pro-Palestinian militants, some linked to left-wing circles including figures close to La France Insoumise.
The association has confirmed the photo is genuine but said he was neither a member nor a donor.
Accounts from people who knew him describe an earlier period of left-wing associative activity followed by later isolation and expressions of anti-Black and anti-Arab hostility. Le Point reported he was not known as an ultra-right activist and had joined ecological and pro-Palestinian actions in 2018 and 2019, while former friends told Mediapart he had voiced racist views for seven or eight years.
The profile is inconsistent and incomplete.
Macron’s “turning point” formulation has drawn criticism for its selective memory.
France has suffered repeated terrorist attacks targeting Jews (the Hypercacher siege, the murder of Ilan Halimi, the Toulouse Jewish school attack) and Christians or secularists (Charlie Hebdo, the murder of Father Jacques Hamel, the beheading of Samuel Paty).
The president later posted a clarification stating that previous attacks on Christians and Jews must not be forgotten or ranked, though critics said it came too late.
Critics argue the initial framing prioritised a preferred narrative over the full record of ideological violence in France.
🚨🇵🇸 CONFIRMATION : Kevin T., le terroriste de Trappes, est bien le militant pro-palestinien qui a participé à l’événement de l’@AFPSOfficiel organisé à Guyancourt en 2018.
🫱🏻🫲🏽 Il affiche une proximité militante avec Olivier Pareja, élu de gauche à Guyancourt et membre de… https://t.co/euePY1OXvc pic.twitter.com/kKisn58sqQ
— SwordOfSalomon (@SwordOfSalomon) October 25, 2026
