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Paris police shoot man who attacked officer outside Notre Dame cathedral Paris police shoot man who attacked officer outside Notre Dame Cathedral
(35 minutes later)
Police in Paris have shot and injured a man who tried to attack an officer outside Notre Dame cathedral. Police in Paris have shot and injured a man who tried to attack an officer with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral.
BFMTV and other French media reported that the attempted attack involved a hammer. Witnesses said four plainclothes police officers, doctors and paramedics could be seen surrounding the suspected attacker, whose condition is not known. The man attempted to assault the officer as he patrolled on the esplanade in front of the cathedral in the French capital, said Cedric Michel, a police union official.
Police asked people to stay away from the area, which has reportedly been evacuated. Plainclothes police officers, doctors and paramedics surrounded the suspected attacker, who was taken to hospital after being shot in the throat.
David Rahul Métreaum, a witness, told BFMTV that he could see a “man on the ground who is not moving”. Yves Lefebvre, a police spokesman, said: “The man approached a police officer, took a hammer from his backpack and hit the police officer over the head. His colleague saw what happened and shot him [the attacker]. I understand the police officer who was attacked is slightly hurt.”
“There is a group of people from the emergency services around the man on the ground.” An American man who was in Notre Dame on Tuesday afternoon tweeted from inside the cathedral:
Large numbers of police cars filled the area on the Île de la Cité island in the river Seine in the centre of Paris. Police asking everyone to raise their hands in the church pic.twitter.com/y5KkyWqdWK
More details soon … Police asked people to stay away from the area, which has been evacuated. Large numbers of police cars surrounded the cathedral on the Île de la Cité island in the river Seine in the centre of Paris.
The French prosecutor’s office said the counter-terrorism office had launched an investigation into the incident. Police said the area would remain sealed until they were confident there was no further danger.
Forty minutes after the incident, the Paris prefecture of police tweeted: “Situation under control. One police officer injured. The attacker has been neutralised and taken to hospital.”
The city remains under high security after a string of terror attacks in recent years, including several targeting police officers and security personnel.
In April, an attacker opened fire on a police van on the Champs Élysées, killing one and gravely wounding two others. The attacker was shot dead by police.
That incident recalled two recent attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris, one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport in March.