18 led to safety after Primark store in Paris is targeted by armed men in raid
EIGHTEEN people have been safely evacuated after an attempted armed robbery on a suburban clothing store in Paris.
The gunmen, who broke into the Primark store in the town of Villeneuve-la-Garenne, are still at large.
Police surrounded the shopping centre and cordoned off the neighbourhood, adjacent to the Seine River about six miles north of central Paris.
After it became clear the gunmen had escaped, a massive police search was launched for them in the surrounding area, with the mall itself cordoned off.
The assailants entered the store at about 6.30am yesterday when several people were already inside, primarily employees of the UK-owned discount chain.
Officers from a special police unit entered the store and a few officers emerged later accompanying women reported to be store employees and other staff from the mall who are thought to have taken refuge in a works canteen.
A police source said an employee first alerted her boyfriend of the hold-up at about 7am when she sent him a text message saying they had been taken hostage by two armed men.
There were reports one of the men had been recognised as a Primark employee but there was no confirmation of this from police.
A delivery driver said he had seen people fleeing the shopping centre through a loading bay.
He added: “Everyone was panicking and shouting ‘they’re armed, they’re armed. Get out of here’.”
There was no immediate sign of a political or other motive for the robbery and no-one was injured.
The Paris region remains on high alert after Islamic extremists attacked a kosher supermarket and satirical newspaper offices in January, leaving 20 people dead including the attackers.