Police shoot dead knifeman at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport
- Officers were called to scene near the airport’s 2F terminal early this morning
- Knifeman reportedly ‘showed signs of aggression’ and ‘brandished a weapon’
- Witnesses said an officer fired a single shot at the alleged knifeman
- Emergency responders evacuated the man, but he later succumbed to injuries
French police officers shot and killed a man who brandished a knife at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris on Wednesday, police and airport sources said.
Officers were called to the scene near the airport’s 2F terminal early this morning.
According to French radio station RTL, the knifeman showed ‘signs of aggression’, refused to obey police orders, and allegedly ran towards police.
A police officer opened fire on the knifeman, who was treated by emergency services, RTL said. He was rushed from the scene, but succumbed to his injuries.
‘This morning officers neutralised a threatening individual in possession of a knife at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport,’ the Paris police department said on Twitter.
Police officers shot and killed a man who brandished a knife at the Charles de Gaulle airport (pictured, file photo) outside Paris on Wednesday, police and airport sources said. Officers were called to the scene near the airport’s 2F terminal early this morning
An airport source said the incident occurred at the busy Terminal 2F at around 8:20 am (0620 GMT), when ‘a homeless man started bothering security agents and border police were called in to remove him’.
Initially the man left while yelling curses but he soon returned and brought out a knife, when one of the officers fired his weapon.
An AFP new agency photographer who witnessed the scene said he saw a large person ‘brandished something that looked like a knife at the police’. ‘He was ordered to stop but kept advancing toward them, and an officer fired a single shot,’ he said.
The man was quickly put on a stretcher and evacuated, the photographer said.
However, it was later confirmed that he succumbed to his injuries.
Paris-based newspaper Le Parisien reported that border agents came across the homeless man while patrolling the airport in the early hours of the morning.
Citing sources, the publication said the man tried to punch one of the officials, before fetching a knife and again trying to strike one of the officers.
The police officer responded by firing his weapon, striking the man in the abdomen.
Le Parisien said the man, believed to be in his 40s, had been seen in the area ‘for a long time’. Lately, he had reportedly been showing increasing signs of aggression.
Security forces in France have been on high alert for terrorist attacks since a wave of jihadist killings that have killed more than 250 people since 2015, often by so-called ‘lone wolves’ who often target police.
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A police officer opened fire on the knifeman, who was treated by emergency services, French RTL radio said. He was rushed from the scene, but succumbed to his injuries. Pictured: An armed officer is seen at Charles-de-Gaulle airport (file photo)
