A policeman was wounded with a knife on Thursday, July 18, near the Champs-Elysées, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Law enforcement officers opened fire on the attacker, seriously wounding him, according to a police source speaking anonymously to Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding that the suspect was in a critical state.
The assailant had just been turned away from a Louis Vuitton store. The injured policeman "was responding to a call from officers securing a store," wrote Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on X, offering his "unwavering support" to law enforcement. "At the sight of the police, the man fled with a knife in his hand and, during a U-turn, wounded a policeman in the ear," added another police source, without specifying the seriousness of the policeman's injury.
"The police tried to catch a pickpocket who didn't give in, pulled out a knife and wounded a policeman in the arm," Jeanne d'Hauteserre, the conservative mayor of the 8th arrondissement, told AFP. "The policeman defended his colleague and shot him in the stomach," she said, adding that the perpetrator "had apparently just been resuscitated and taken to hospital."
"Thank you to the colleague who fought back and neutralized the assailant. He has been in the field for 2 days and has already been thrown into the reality of the situation," wrote Linda Kebbab, national secretary of the Un1té police union on X.
A mine-clearance truck and at least four gendarmerie and four police trucks were parked near the scene of the attack, according to an AFP journalist. The entire area was closed off with tape. The gendarmes had parked trucks to block the view of passers-by. The attack comes just eight days before the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games in the capital, during which up to 45,000 police officers will be deployed.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.