Paris attacker shot by police as tourist area locked down
Print Edition
FRENCH police shot and wounded a man who attacked officers with a hammer outside the Notre Dame Cathedral yesterday and the Paris prosecutor’s office swiftly launched a counter-terrorism investigation.
The man shouted “this is for Syria” before being shot outside the Paris tourist spot, the French interior minister said.
He was also found to be carrying kitchen knives and had a document identifying him as an Algerian student, the authenticity of which authorities were checking, Gerard Collomb told reporters.
Armed police cordoned off the site, and the cathedral in central Paris that is visited by millions of tourists every year was locked down during the incident.
The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. It comes just three days after Islamist militants killed seven people in London in a knife and van attack.
“Situation under control, one policeman injured, the assailant was neutralized and taken to hospital,” Paris police said on Twitter.
Two police sources said the officers shot the assailant in the thorax after he had threatened them with a hammer and refused to stop. One officer was hurt, according to one source.
Karine Dalle, a spokeswoman for the Paris diocese, told BFM TV that 900 people were inside the cathedral as police secured the area.
One holidaymaker wrote on Twitter: “Not the holiday experience wanted. Trapped in Notre Dame Cathedral after police shoot a man. We are with our 2 terrified children.”
The incident happened around 4:30pm. A large number of police cars filled the area on the Ile de Cite island in the River Seine in the center of the French capital.
Hundreds of people on the esplanade in front of Notre Dame were evacuated and authorities urged people to stay away from the area. People inside Notre Dame, the nearby Sainte-Chappelle cathedral and bars and cafes in the area were told to stay inside.
Lawrence Langner, a 73-year-old American visiting the neighborhood just across the Seine from the cathedral, told reporters he suddenly heard a commotion and two gunshots.
Journalist David Metreau, who said his office overlooks the square that fronts Notre Dame, tweeted that there were two blasts that sounded like shots.
Looking down from his office, he saw a man inert on the square. “The police didn’t seem interested in him at the beginning,” Metreau said. “I thought he was dead.”
They then checked his pulse and medics later came and took him away on a stretcher.
France is under a state of emergency after a wave of militant attacks since early 2015.
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