Paris Police Shoot Notre Dame Cathedral Attacker

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

Summary: After yelling “This is for Syria,” a man who attacked a police officer was shot today in Paris.

On Tuesday, a man tried to attack a police officer with a hammer outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Police were able to subdue the man by shooting him in the chest, and authorities said they are investigating the matter to see if the assailant had terrorist ties.

  

What

Where

Search Jobs

French interior minister Gerard Collomb told The Independent that the attacker shouted, “This is for Syria!” The man had mildly wounded the police officer before he had been neutralized. Both men are now in the hospital.

Collomb also said that the attacker had been carrying kitchen knives and had an Algerian student ID.

A witness told BBC that she was in the middle of going through the security entrance when she heard gunfire.

“I turned around and saw the assailant on the ground where they had shot him,” Kellyn Potvin-Gorman said. “There were tons of people running in all directions, and we were brought inside at that time.”

Potvin-Gorman said that the attacker was taken down immediately and “was face down on the pavement.” She, as well as hundreds of other tourists, were locked inside the famous church for about an hour as authorities investigated the incident; and everyone was eventually released after security checks.

This possible terrorist attack adds to a long list of ISIS-related incidents in France, which includes the Charlie Hedbo massacre. Since 2015, a total of 240 people has died in the country because of these types of assaults.

ISIS has called for its followers to carry out attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started on May 26 and ends on June 24. The group has already claimed responsibility for Saturday night’s London Bridge attack, where three men drove into pedestrians before stabbing others in the area, and they have claimed the Manchester bombing at the Ariana Grande concert in late May.

Last year, another ISIS attack had been attempted at Notre Dame, but police were able to foil it.

So far in France, the following terrorist-related attacks have occurred since 2015, according to the BBC:

• February 3 2017 – An Egyptian man attacks French soldiers at the Louvre Museum in Paris. He was wielding a machete while shouting “Allahu akbar.” Police shot and wounded him.
• July 26 2016 – In Normandy, two attackers slit the throat of a priest before they were shot dead by law enforcement.
• July 14 2016 – A Tunisian-born driver mows down a crowd of people on a Nice beach during Bastille Day celebrations, and he kills 86 people. The driver is later shot dead by police, and ISIS claims responsibility for the attacker.
• June 13 2016 – A jihadist kills a police officer and his partner at their home in west Paris. The killer declares allegiance to ISIS, and he is later killed by police.
• November 13 2015 – Jihadists attack various locations in Paris including a stadium and cafes with bombs and assault rifles. The coordinated attack kills 130 people and wounds 350.
• January 7-9 2015 – Two Islamic extremists storm the Paris office of the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and they shoot and kill 17 people. The next day, another militant kills a policewoman and takes hostages at a Jewish supermarket in Paris, killing four. Police fatally shoot the gunman before later locating the Charlie Hedbo shooters and killing them dead.

Source: BBC and The Independent 

• Related: ISIS claims Turkish Nightclub attack
• Related: Orlando Families Claim Google, Twitter, Facebook Profit from ISIS
• Related: ISIS Burns Two Pilots Alive
• Related: ISIS Releases a New Video of Beheaded American 

What do you think of Tuesday’s Paris attack? Let us know in the comments below.