An assailant stabbed and badly wounded a policewoman on Friday in the police offices of the town of La Chapelle-sur-Erdre in western France, a police source said on Friday.
BFM TV reported that the assailant had been caught after a manhunt that involved two police helicopters and more than 200 officers.
Shortly after the suspect had been caught, police confirmed that the suspect had died.A source close to the investigation said that the suspect had been released from jail in March 2021 after being convicted for violence. He reportedly suffered from psychological disorders and may have been radicalised in jail.
There was a shoot-out during the arrest and some policemen were slightly injured, it added. The victim was in a critical state, the news channel added.
"The police have neutralized the suspect behind the knife attack against a municipal policewoman in Chapelle-sur-Erdre. Thank you and my thoughts for those officers wounded making the arrest," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted.
Darmanin said he would be traveling to the scene of the attack.
Suite aux évènements survenus à la Chapelle-sur-Erdre, je me rends sur place avec @sarahelhairy.Soutien total à l’ensemble des policiers municipaux.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) May 28, 2021
The man, who police said stole the officer's weapon, initially fled in a car before a crash forced him to continue on foot. Schools in the area were under police protection.
The motive for the stabbing was not immediately clear.
Schools in the area were under police protection, the source added.According to BFM TV, some 50 GIGN soldiers took off from the Satory base and will join the elite gendarmes and the 15 GIGN soldiers from the Nantes branch already there, bringing the number of GIGN soldiers mobilized to 65.
The attacker stole the officer's weapon, the police source and BFM TV reported.