A gunman firing from a car killed one person and wounded five, including a 12-year-old girl shot eight times in the Paris suburbs Friday, in what the French president branded a "racist terrorist attack".

Axar.az reports, citing foreign media, that according to the Trappes mayor Ali Rabeh, the man was "firing at random, wanting to cause a bloodbath" as he drove through the working-class town of Trappes southwest of Paris and neighbouring La Verriere.

Most of the victims were from foreign backgrounds and prosecutors are investigating whether the acts targeted the "real or supposed race, ethnicity, nationality or religion" of the victims.

"What happened here today was a racist terrorist attack," said French President Emmanuel Macron, visiting Trappes later.

"This is a turning point because it is the first time there has been a terrorist act aimed at killing our compatriots and our children for the colour of their skin or what their religion is thought to be," he said.

"We must not yield anything to the ideas that are taking root in the Republic that could justify such behaviour."