French police on Thursday shot dead a man who injured an officer with a knife in the high-end Champs-Elysees neighborhood in Paris, authorities said, just days before the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said the attack did not appear linked to the Olympics and no terrorist motive was suspected.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on X that the attack happened in the 8th arrondissement of Paris while police were “responding to a call from officers securing a store.”
Speaking in front of the flagship Louis Vuitton store on the Champs-Elysees after the stabbing, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said the assailant “pulled out a knife and threatened them (the officers), tried to stab them multiple times and succeeded in stabbing.”
He defended the police response as “totally proportionate. They were facing an assailant who was threatening their lives.”
Nunez said the officer was seriously injured to the neck but his life was not in danger.
The assailant, a 27-year-old Senegalese national with residency papers, was shot and seriously injured, Nunez said.
A source in the prosecutors’ office later told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the man had died and added that a criminal investigation had been launched into the attack.
The area was thronging with tourists and Parisians when the attack happened around the corner from the Louis Vuitton boutique. Some took photos as police cordoned off the area, while others continued their dining in nearby sidewalk cafes.
Security agents at Louis Vuitton contacted police after noticing “suspicious behavior” by a man outside the store, according to a police official. The store often has long lines outside and is among the biggest draws on an avenue packed with luxury boutiques. The attack occurred on a street nearby, not on the Champs-Elysees itself.
Police reinforcements reportedly rushed in after the stabbing. At a luxury hotel nearby, guests arriving in a taxi had to pass under police tape to enter their hotel, as a porter wheeled their baggage under the cordon.
Thursday’s knife attack comes just days after a man stabbed and wounded a French soldier patrolling Paris on Monday outside the Gare de l’Est train station in eastern Paris. The man was taken to a psychiatric hospital, according to French prosecutors.
France is under its highest security alert before the start of the Paris Games on July 26. Paris police imposed strict new security measures in the center of town starting Thursday to prepare for the exceptional opening ceremony, which will be held in the open all along the Seine River instead of in a closed stadium.
Darmanin is staying on in a caretaker role at the interior ministry until a new government is formed in the wake of a legislative election earlier this month.
