Police shoot dead man who threatened officers with a knife at Gare du Nord station in Paris

A man was shot dead by police at the Gare du Nord station in Paris on Monday morning after threatening officers with a knife.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin indicated on Twitter the incident took place at around 07:00 CET and that “the police officers used their weapons, thereby averting any danger to themselves and to passengers”.

Transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebarri later confirmed on RMC the assailant “died on the spot” while the two officers were “slightly injured”.

A police source told Euronews that the suspect was carrying a knife with a 30-cm blade. The anti-police slogan “ACAB”, which stands for “All cops are bastards”, was written on the knife.

A terrorist motive was ruled out at the beginning of the morning with the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office (PNAT) confirming it is not involved in the investigation.

The Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, “saluted” in a tweet “the courage of the police officers who reacted with cold blood to a cowardly attack”.

A France Televisions journalist, who was in the station at the time, posted a video on social networks in which two shots are heard being fired.

In a statement, Alliance, one of the main police unions, described the attacker as an “anti-cop terrorist” who targeted police officers “armed with a knife to kill them”.

For Alliance, “this attack on the protectors of the Republic shows once again that today our colleagues risk their lives on the corner of a street, the square of a church, or in a daily mission within a station”.

“The threat is very real, the blue in the street is a privileged target and the anti-cop terrorist act is clearly identified”, the union added.

Linda Kebbab, spokeswoman for the Unité SGP police union, said on Twitter that this attack “left little room for doubt about the hateful nature that animated the perpetrator.”

“Defensive shooting, neutralisation. Courage to you colleagues,” she added.