Paris police officer gunned down amid tensions over Charlie Hebdo attack
PARIS— An assailant opened fire on a police officer on the southern edge of Paris early Thursday, killing her and injuring a nearby street sweeper before fleeing, officials and a witness said.
France’s interior minister cautioned against jumping to conclusions a day after the deadly assault on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12.
The attacker in the Thursday shooting remained at large, said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.
It was not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to the Charlie Hebdo attack, in which two police officers were among the dead.
The officer was named as Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 26. After training, she had been assigned to active duty just 15 days ago and was unarmed.
“The female municipal police officer who fell this morning is being honoured by the entire nation,” said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. “Our gratitude to all the security forces who protect our freedom,” he said in a Twitter message.
Cazeneuve said Jean-Phillippe had stopped to investigate a traffic accident when the shooting started. Paris police said the second victim was a street sweeper.
Circumstances around the shooting in the Montrouge suburb remain unclear, with local media reporting contradictory witness statements. One version said a masked gunman was driving one of the vehicles involved in a collision.
Another bystander said the gunman was on foot when he opened fire, then ran away down the street.
“There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,” said Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his home nearby and said the shooter wore dark clothes but no mask. “It didn’t look like a big gun because he held it with one hand,” he said.
France is on its highest level of alert after the deadly attacks at Charlie Hebdo’s central Paris offices. With files from James Overton in Paris