Police in Paris shoot dead knife-wielding man wearing ‘fake explosives vest’

A knifeman thought to have been wearing a suicide vest has been shot dead outside a police station in northern Paris. The man attempted to enter the building with a knife shouting “Allahu Akbar” before he was shot by officers. They had spotted wires coming from his clothing and thought he was wearing an explosives vest. A bomb disposal team was sent to the scene but a police union source later confirmed he was wearing a fake explosive belt.

I heard three or four gunshots at about midday. I work nights, so that woke me up. When I went to the window I saw that there was one person on the ground with blood on his body.

Witness

It comes as the city remembers the deadly terror attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine a year ago today, where 12 people were murdered by Al-Qaeda gunmen. Minutes before the shooting, French president Francois Hollande had paid tribute to police officers killed in the line of duty, including those killed in the Charlie Hebdo tragedy. Residents near the scene in Rue de la Goutte d'Or in the 18th arrondissement were told to shut their windows and keep off their balconies and schools kept pupils indoors as police locked down the area. Footage showed officers ordering one man to put his hands against a wall before searching him.