PARIS, Oct 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A knife-wielding man who worked at police headquarters in central Paris went on a rampage Thursday, stabbing to death four employees before himself being shot dead, officials said.
A fifth person was critically injured and was being treated in hospital after the deadliest attack on police in France in years, the motive of which was still unclear.
The 45-year-old IT worker in the police intelligence department killed three male officers and a female assistant before being shot in the courtyard of the square stone building next to Notre-Dame cathedral in the historic heart of Paris.
The man, who was born in the French Caribbean territory of Martinique and had worked for the police since 2003, had a hearing disability.
Police searched his home in a quiet residence in Gonesse, a low-income suburb north of Paris, and took his wife into custody, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz told reporters. The Paris prosecutor’s office said she has not been charged.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the assailant had “never shown any behavioural problems”.
The police were “particularly stricken by this exceptionally grave incident”, said Castaner, who postponed a planned trip to Greece and Turkey to visit the scene with President Emmanuel Macron.
Addressing a public meeting later in the southern town of Rodez, Macron called the attack a “veritable tragedy” and described the perpetrator’s colleagues as being “in a state of shock.”
The assailant used a kitchen knife to stab the three policemen in their offices before going on to attack the female employee on the staircase.
In the courtyard, he was confronted by an officer who ordered him to drop the knife. When he refused, the officer shot him in the head, police sources said.
Initial reports said investigators believed a workplace dispute could have sparked the incident.
There were tensions between the knifeman and his supervisor, according to police union official Christophe Crepin, adding “I do not think this is a terrorist act.”
Police union leader Jean-Marc Bailleul described it as a criminal act, telling BFMTV: “It was a moment of madness.”
Thursday’s killings come amid growing tensions within the ranks of the police, who have been stretched to the limit after a year of trying to contain weekly “yellow vest” anti-Macron demonstrations.
Thousands of police officers marched in Paris Wednesday for better working conditions, a rare protest that took place against the backdrop of a spike in police suicides — 52 so far this year. — NNN-AGENCIES
