A Paris shooting has left a city employee and policewoman injured after a man clad in a bullet-proof vest opened fire in an attack hours after the terrorist strike at the headquarters of magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Details are still emerging about the second Paris shooting and whether it is linked to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The gunman in the second attack is still on the loose, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, squashing earlier reports that police had detained a man at the scene.
“Around 8:09 he shot towards the police officers who were at the scene for a road incident,” said Cazeneuve. “The police woman – who is in very critical condition – was shot in the back.”
On Wednesday, masked gunmen stormed the headquarters of the magazine, killing some of its most outspoken journalists. Charlie Hebdo was known for its cartoons satirizing radical Islam, including ones that depicted the Prophet Mohammed. The attack left 12 dead in all.
In the hours after the terrorist attack, there was also an explosion at a kebab shop near a mosque in eastern France, though authorities have not said if it is connected to the Charlie Hebdo attack .
In the Paris police shooting, witnesses said two men appeared with weapons after a collision between two cars.
“I was woken up by the first three shots,” said William Thomas, a 19-year-old who lives close to this morning’s attack. “Then I heard someone shout ‘Take that’ and there were another two shots. It was before 8 a.m.”
The wounded officers were said to be in very serious condition.
“Emergency workers tried to revive the woman officer at the scene but she was in a very bad way,” said another officer at the scene.
Cazeneuve is urging residents to keep calm after the second Paris police shooting, saying that authorities are hunting down the suspects.
[Image via Twitter]
