Police officers shot on Champs-Elysees in central Paris
Apr 21, 2017 under World 513
Paris: A gunman jumped out of a car, killed a police officer and wounded two others on the Champs-Elysees in central Paris on Thursday night, in what French President Francois Hollande described as a terrorist-related attack.
The gunman was shot dead by police as he tried to flee on foot, Pierre-Henry Brandet, a French Interior Ministry spokesman, told the BFMTV news channel.
Police issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect in the shooting, according to a police source. That suspect had arrived in Paris from Belgium by train, the source said. Police records showed the wanted man has previously been convicted of attacking an officer in 2001.
The dead gunman had been flagged as an extremist, according to police sources.
Police searched a home in Seine-et-Marne presumed linked to the name on the registration of the car used in the attack, local media reported.
Police were also searching a home in the town of Chelles, identified as the family home of Karim Cheurfi, a 39-year-old from Belgium with a police record.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the shooting via its propaganda arm Amaq. It identified the attacker as one of its soldiers, naming him as Abu Yousif, a Belgian.
SMH
