A man recently released from prison on terrorism charges was shot and killed by a police officer on Friday after he allegedly tried to attack another officer with a knife and scissors near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The incident took place near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during the re-lighting of the eternal flame ceremony, which is performed every evening.
The unidentified man, a French national born in 1978, reportedly tried to attack an officer guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was shot by another officer.
He died of his injuries in a hospital, France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said.
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French police are in front of the Arc de Triomphe on Friday evening after a man allegedly tried to attack an officer with a knife. (Guillaume Baptiste/AFP via Getty Images)
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in Brussels in 2013 for a terrorist crime, namely the attempted murder of three police officers in Belgium, and had just been released in December.
The man served 12 years in prison and was placed under police surveillance with routine checks, the French public prosecutor said.
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France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the man over his links to a “terrorist company” before his death.
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Arc de Triomphe in 2021. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters)
The man was held in a Belgian prison until 2015, after which he was transferred to France and released on Christmas Eve.
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The Arc de Triomphe was closed to guests following the incident, with no other injuries reported.
The man was killed in the incident. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, File)
The Arc de Triomphe, at the end of the Champs-Élysées, is one of the most popular sights in Paris and Europe. Millions of tourists visit the monument in the heart of the French capital every year.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.
