AK47 terrorist kills cop in the Champs-Elysees
Officer hit in suspected terror attack as he sat in car at red light Shooting comes only days before France goes to the polls
ONE policeman died and two were injured in a hail of bullets last night when a gunman opened up with an AK47 in the heart of Paris.
The victim was hit in the head by a suspected terrorist, who was known to police, as he waited in his car at a red light near the Arc de Triomphe in the Champs-Elysees.
The attacker, possibly working with a back-up man, ran off chased by police. Two officers were wounded as they shot him dead.
A witness said the attacker got out of a car and began firing with a machine gun at the police vehicle.
A major exchange of gunfire was also reported near a Marks & Spencer.
One witness, a kitchen assistant, said: “I was walking along the pavement where an Audi 80 was parked. A man got out and opened fire with a Kalashnikov on a policeman.
“The policeman fell down. I heard six shots, I was afraid. I have a two year-old and thought I was going to die. He shot straight at the officer.”
A spokesman for the French Interior Minister confirmed one officer had died after being shot directly in the head and two were injured.
Initial reports said another officer had died. The spokesman added that the motive for the attack was being investigated, but the strongest early theory was “terrorism”.
It was unclear how many in total were in involved in the attack. But police searched the home of the dead attacker last night.
The Champs-Elysees was put in lockdown as a dozens of heavily armed cops swarmed the area.
France is currently under a state of emergency following a spate of Islamist terror attacks which have killed 230 people in two years.
The shooting comes just days before voters got to the polls in the tightly-contested presidential election on Sunday.
The two front-runners are farright National Front leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron, followed by right winger François Fillon and socialist JeanLuc Melenchon.
The attack comes after two suspected terrorists were arrested in Marseille on Tuesday.