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Police shoot dead Paris knifeman after murderous attack Paris knifeman shot dead after killing one and injuring four
(35 minutes later)
One person died and five were wounded, two of them seriously, when a man wielding a knife attacked them in the centre of Paris before he was shot dead in the street by police. A knifeman has killed one person and injured four others, one of them critically, before being shot dead by French police in Paris.
The attacker, who has not been named, was reported to have been Tasered before the police opened fire during the incident in the Opera district. Local television said that when police opened fire he was on the ground suffering from a cardiac arrest. A police source told Le Parisien newspaper the attacker shouted: “Kill me or I kill you.” The attacker struck in one of the most popular areas of the city, near the celebrated opera house and theatres.
Witnesses spoke of panic, as people tried to hide in restaurants and cafes. Videos on social media showed people fleeing the area, which is close to many restaurants. Pierre Gaudin, a spokesman for the police prefecture, said the knifeman attacked shortly before 9pm.
A witness who was sitting in a Japanese restaurant told Le Parisien newspaper: “Just before 9pm, we saw people rushing inside screaming that a man was outside with a bloody knife. People were throwing themselves on the floor in panic. “One person has died of their injuries,” Gaudin said, adding that two others had been seriously injured and taken to hospital.
“Five minutes later there was a second scare and customers blocked the door of the restaurant for fear the attacker had slipped inside.” In a series of tweets, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said his thoughts were with the victims of the knife attack and praised the “courage” of police who “neutralised the terrorist”.
Pierre Gaudin, a senior official at the Paris police prefecture, said “A person attacked five people in the second district of Paris. Police intervened immediately. The individual died. Another person, seriously injured (by the attacked) died from their injuries.” “France is paying in blood once again, but it will not give in one inch to the enemies of freedom,” he wrote.
Interior minister Gerard Collomb said the alleged attacker was “neutralised” by police and praised officers for their actions. He said it was an “odious” attack. The interior minister, Gérard Collomb, hailed the “sangfroid” and quick response of police who shot the attacker.
The identity of the attack suspect and reason for the attack are unclear. “My first thoughts are with the victims of this odious act,” he tweeted.
France has been on high alert as a series of attacks commissioned or inspired by Islamic State have hit the country over the past three years in which dozens of people have been killed. A waiter in a restaurant near Opera, named only as Jonathan, described the attack, which happened in front of his restaurant.
A judicial source said authorities were looking into whether the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office should be handling the case. “The attacker was walking in the street, armed with a knife. He had a lot of blood on his hands. He was walking in the road and stopping at all the shops. He was threatening everyone who crossed his path.”
He added: “He threatened a woman and her companion came to defend her and was threatened as well. Then he moved on to the next restaurant and attacked it. I wasn’t particularly worried, I was under the impression he was mad or drugged up.”
FranceFrance
Knife crimeKnife crime
EuropeEurope
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