Paris, February 13 (NA) – A man armed with a knife who threatened gendarmes on guard duty under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris died on Friday from injuries sustained after being shot multiple times, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office announced.
The incident occurred during the daily flame relighting at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, under the Arc de Triomphe, a short distance from the Champs-Élysées, when a man with a knife rushed at a member of the gendarmerie band participating in the honor guard ceremony, reported the newspaper Le Monde and confirmed by the Argentine News Agency.
Other gendarmes used their service weapons to subdue the attacker, according to the gendarmerie. After being hit by several bullets, the man was taken to a hospital, where he died the same night from his injuries, according to the Prosecutor's Office. In a statement, the Prosecutor's Office said it had opened an investigation and that a magistrate would travel to the scene.
“A man tried to attack gendarmes with a knife, including band members who were preparing for the ceremony” at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in tribute to World War I, declared French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. The official stated that “this individual tried to take the life of a gendarme,” according to the DW website. Nuñez clarified that the security forces' response was carried out within the legal and regulatory framework.
The suspect was treated by emergency services and taken to a hospital in critical condition with multiple bullet wounds to the body. Some media outlets indicate he was registered in a system for monitoring terrorist suspects.
Before attacking the gendarme, the suspect—who lived in a northern Paris suburb and, according to Le Parisien, was a 48-year-old French citizen—shouted: “You shouldn't have killed our women and children, and we'll see who triumphs under the Arc de Triomphe.”
A short time later, the Prosecutor's Office confirmed his death. The attacker had called the police station in Aulnay-sous-Bois, northeast of the capital, earlier in the afternoon to declare that he was going to “commit a terrorist attack in Paris against soldiers.” The man was known for having stabbed two police officers in Belgium in 2012 and was under surveillance in France, according to TF1.
