Woman shouting ‘You’re all going to die’ shot by police in Paris metro
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Police officers standing guard outside the Bibliotheque Francois-Mitterand station. The police shot a woman who was making threats on Oct 31.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS - Paris police shot and critically wounded a woman who was behaving in a threatening manner in a metro station on Tuesday morning, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said.
The woman was said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” or “God is greatest”, and “You’re all going to die”.
France is on its highest state of alert, after the Oct 13 murder of a schoolteacher
Officials have linked the murder to what they called a “jihadist atmosphere”, linked to the Israel-Gaza war.
The fully-veiled woman was shot at the Bibliotheque Francois-Mitterrand station.
Commuters had reported her “uttering aggressive, jihadist comments”, government spokesman Olivier Veran said earlier.
When the police arrived, “they pulled the woman aside and first asked her to calm down, but also to show her hands to show they presented no particular danger”, he added.
“What happened then was that law enforcement officers had no option but to open fire on this woman, given the danger of the situation.”
The fire service, which provided emergency care for the woman, said she was shot in the abdomen.
She was transferred to a nearby hospital where she was getting treatment, police chief Nunez said, adding that her life was in danger.
Mr Nunez said the woman’s identity was yet to be confirmed.
But, he said, she could be the same person who in 2021 threatened urban patrols of the counter-terrorism Sentinelle operation, and had been put in a psychiatric ward over mental health issues.
“This person refused to comply with summons and police fired their weapons,” Mr Nunez said, adding that the situation had been “extremely threatening”.
France is on its highest state of alert after the Oct 13 murder of a schoolteacher in a suspected militant attack.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The woman had threatened to blow herself up, French media, including Le Parisien, quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying.
The woman turned out to not be in possession of explosives at the time she was shot, Mr Nunez said.
The metro station, on the RER C line, was evacuated after the incident, police said.
Two investigations were opened – one against the woman, and the second into the use of weapons by the police. REUTERS
