Two police officers were shot and seriously wounded in a Paris police station on Thursday night by a man who got hold of an officer’s gun, a source close to the case told AFP.
French policePhoto: Nicolas Guyonnet / AFP / Profimedia
The incident happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. (20:30 GMT), the source added. The assailant had just been arrested and officers were searching him when he grabbed one of their guns, according to the police source.
The two injured policemen are in a serious condition at the emergency room, the quoted source said.
This was later confirmed by the prosecutor’s office in Paris, requested by AFP.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez went to the scene around 00:00 (22:00 GMT).
The man, arrested after attacking a woman with a cutter
He explained to the media that the attacker had been arrested at around 22:00 (20:00 GMT) in a building in a neighborhood in the south of Paris for a “very violent attack on a woman” with a knife.
“The policemen intervened and brought him here (to the station) and at the time of his taking over, he stole the weapon” of an agent and “seriously” wounded two policemen.
The latter were immediately transported to the hospital, as was the attacker, who was also “seriously” wounded by a fire in self-defense, Nunez explained.
The Paris prosecutor’s office explained to AFP that three investigations had been opened: for the “attempted murder of the woman”, for the “attempted murder of persons holding public authority”, as well as a third for “intentional violence with weapons by a person which holds public authority”, notes Agerpres.
This last type of investigation is always carried out when a policeman makes use of his weapon.
The prosecutor’s office added that the individual in question, “wounded in the chest, was taken to the hospital”.
Gunshots inside a police station are extremely rare in France, writes AFP.
