At least two people were killed Friday when a gunman claiming allegiance to ISIS yelled, “Vengeance for Syria!” and “Allahu Akbar!” as he opened fire in a supermarket in southwest France.
The attacker gunned down the butcher in the Super U store in Trèbes, and took eight people hostage,
The Sun of the UK reported.
“He pulled out a gun and fired five times, wounding one officer,” said a source in Trèbes, near Carcassonne, who claimed to have seen the man carrying grenades, according to local reports.
Trèbes Mayor Eric Menassi said seven hostages have been released, leaving the gunman alone in the store with another cop, the news outlet reported.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe described the situation south of Toulouse, which investigators are treating as terrorism, as “very serious.”
Authorities in the Aude region are warning people to avoid the area around the supermarket.
Police responded to two separate incidents, one at the supermarket in Trèbes and the second, a 15-minute drive away, in the town of Carcassonne where the officer was shot,
according to The Local.
The French newspaper Le Depeche du Midi reported that the gunman, about 30 years old, was armed with one or more grenades.
A witness named Karim, 55, told France info radio: “I heard shots fired around 11:10 a.m. At that moment there were only a few gendarmes (military police) around but now there are between 200 to 300.”
According to local reports, the officer who was shot in Carcassonne was part of a group of unarmed police based in Marseille who were jogging at the time.
It was believed the attacker initially tried to run them over in a vehicle before opening fire, The Local reported.
“They threw themselves to the floor but one of them was hit in the shoulder,” a source told France Info radio.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/23/cop-shot-in-france-suspect-may-have-taken-hostages/
