PARIS: Security forces shot dead a man who tried to seize a soldier’s gun at Paris Orly airport on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of the busy airport and putting security back in the spotlight in the middle of France’s presidential election campaign.
The man, identified as a 39-year-old radicalized Muslim who was already on the radar of police and intelligence services, had earlier shot and wounded a police officer with an air gun after a routine traffic stop north of Paris, officials said.
With the country in the throes of a highly charged election campaign after two years of attacks on civilians and public targets by Daesh militants — several of them in Paris — the anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.
A police source identified the man only as Zied B. and said he was known to the police for theft and drug offenses.
An army spokesman said he was shot dead after a struggle with a female soldier on patrol in the airport terminal after he had earlier shot and wounded a police officer with an air pistol during a police check on the opposite side of Paris.
The man’s father and brother were taken into police custody, a judicial source said. BFM TV, without giving a source, said the attacker had texted his father saying: “I have screwed up. I have shot a policeman.”
Paris airport attacker was already on radar of police, spy agencies
Paris airport attacker was already on radar of police, spy agencies
