The man suspected of having shot dead three Kurds in Paris this week told investigators of his “hatred of foreigners”, according to the prosecution.
The suspected shooter, 69, was arrested on Friday after two men and a woman were shot dead in a Kurdish cultural center in the bustling 10th arrondissement of the French capital.
Three other people were injured, one of whom then managed to disarm the shooter, said the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Two of the injured remain hospitalized but are stable.
The suspect said during questioning that a burglary at his home in 2016 sparked a “hate of foreigners that has become totally pathological”, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The office had already hinted on Saturday that an alleged racial motive had been added to the initial charges of murder and weapons offences.
He also said the man had recently been released from detention pending trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in Paris a year ago.
Kurdish anger directed at police
The killings have shocked a community as it prepares to mark the anniversary of the unsolved murder of three activists 10 years ago.
During Saturday’s demonstrations, some protesters clashed with police.
Kurdish officials have called for Friday’s shooting to be considered a terrorist attack.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, was arrested at the scene and transferred to psychiatry on Saturday.
He was later released from hospital and his custody resumed on Sunday afternoon, the prosecutor’s office said in a later update.
He will face an examining magistrate on Monday.
During an earlier interview, the man described himself as depressed and having suicidal tendencies.
He had planned to relight himself after his assault, the prosecutor said in the statement.
Two of the injured remain hospitalized but are stable.
