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Official: Strasbourg market gunman pledged allegiance to IS

By SAMUEL PETREQUINDecember 22, 2018 GMT

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Residents react during a gathering being held in a central square of the eastern French city of Strasbourg, Sunday Dec.16, 2018 to pay homage to the victims of a gunman who killed four people and wounded a dozen more. The gathering was held in Kleber Square by a Christmas market and near where the gunman opened fire last Tuesday evening. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

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PARIS (AP) — A French judicial official says the alleged gunman who shot and killed five people in a Christmas market attack this month in Strasbourg had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The judicial official, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, said investigators have found a video stored on a USB key in which Cherif Chekatt had claimed allegiance to the extremist group. The video was at Chekatt’s home.

Chekatt, 29, died in a shootout with police two days after his Dec. 11 attack at Strasbourg’s popular Christmas market.

Shortly after his death, the Islamic State group’s Amaq news agency claimed he was a “soldier” of the group. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner had rejected the claim as “totally opportunistic.”