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Paris Police ‘Neutralize’ Man After Attack at Train Station Paris Police Shoot and Arrest Man After Stabbings at Train Station
(about 2 hours later)
PARIS — The police in Paris opened fire and “neutralized” on a man who attacked several people early Wednesday morning at the Gare du Nord train station, one of the capital’s busiest transit hubs, the French authorities said. The police in Paris shot and arrested a man who attacked and injured six people with a homemade bladed weapon early on Wednesday at the Gare du Nord, one of the capital’s busiest train stations, the French authorities said.
Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said on Twitter that “an individual injured several people this morning at Gare du Nord.” The motive for the assault was not immediately clear, but none of the injuries were expected to be life-threatening and the French authorities were not treating the episode as a terrorist attack.
“He was quickly neutralized,” Mr. Darmanin said. Gérald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said that at 6:42 a.m., an “extremely threatening individual” had stabbed several bystanders in front of the station before continuing inside, in what appeared to be a random attack during the commuter rush.
It was not immediately clear what kind of weapon the man was wielding, how many people he had injured and how seriously, and what had motivated the attack. Border police who were stationed at the Gare du Nord, as well as off-duty officers who were armed and present at the scene, responded within a minute, Mr. Darmanin said. Two of the police officers fired three shots at the suspect and subdued him, he said.
Gare du Nord is one of the largest train stations in Paris, with service to northern France and beyond, along with a Eurostar terminal for travelers heading to the United Kingdom. The suspect was arrested and hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, which said it had opened a criminal investigation for attempted murder.
An authority for the TER Hauts-de-France, a regional branch of France’s national railway serving northern France, said on Twitter that the man “was brought under control, emergency services intervened and the person was taken away.” The attack injured six people, including one of the border police officers. Five were lightly wounded, and the sixth sustained more serious injuries, Mr. Darmanin said.
The police established a security perimeter and train traffic was disrupted, “but the station is still being used normally,” the authority added. Gare du Nord, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, is one of the largest transit hubs in the French capital, with service to northern France and beyond, along with a Eurostar terminal for travelers heading to Britain.
The attack came nearly three weeks after a gunman killed three people and wounded three others at a Kurdish community center, a hair salon and a restaurant in central Paris in what French officials said was a racially-motivated attack against foreigners. “Without the extremely fast police response there would certainly have been deaths,” Mr. Darmanin told reporters at the station, which the police had partially cordoned off but was otherwise functioning normally.
Mr. Darmanin said the suspect did not have any papers on him during his arrest and that investigators were working to identify him. Mr. Darmanin said it was unclear exactly what kind of bladed weapon the assailant had used but that it appeared to be “something that he might have crafted himself,” rather than a standard knife.
The Twitter account of TER Hauts-de-France, a regional branch of France’s national railway serving northern France, said that the assailant “was brought under control, emergency services intervened and the person was taken away.”
The police established a security perimeter and train traffic was disrupted, “but the station is still being used normally,” the account added.
The attack came nearly three weeks after a gunman killed three people and wounded three others at a Kurdish community center, a hair salon and a restaurant in central Paris in what French officials said was a racially motivated attack against foreigners.
The suspect in that case, a 69-year-old man who told the police he had a “pathological” hatred of foreigners, was indicted on charges of murder and attempted murder with a racist motive. He remains in custody.The suspect in that case, a 69-year-old man who told the police he had a “pathological” hatred of foreigners, was indicted on charges of murder and attempted murder with a racist motive. He remains in custody.
France was struck by large-scale Islamist terrorist attacks in 2015 and 2016, followed by a string of smaller but still deadly shootings and stabbings in subsequent years, often carried out by lone assailants.
While terrorist attacks have receded from the headlines in France, the authorities say the threat is still high and that the police and intelligence services regularly foil plots. Mr. Darmanin said last month that the authorities had thwarted 39 Islamist attacks and nine far-right attacks since 2017.