PARIS, France

A gunman opened fire with a machine gun at a town hall in western Paris on Wednesday, killing eight people and wounding at least 19, the Interior Ministry said.

A ministry spokesman said police had arrested the gunman, who sprayed gunfire at a council meeting in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

"Most of the victims were council members," the spokesman told Reuters, adding that the motive for the attack was still unclear.

At least 19 people were wounded, eight of them seriously, in the shooting, which took place at 1:15 a.m. local time (7:15 p.m. EST Tuesday), a fire services spokesman at the scene told Reuters.

French Info radio said the gunman was a member of the council. It said he strode into the room where representatives were holding a routine weekly meeting and opened fire.

Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant was at the scene, and media reports said Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was on his way.

The shooting comes less than a month before the first round of a presidential election in which crime is a key issue.
Both incumbent President Jacques Chirac and Jospin, who hopes to oust his arch rival, have promised a crackdown on crime.