A man has been shot dead after grabbing a soldier's gun at Orly airport in Paris, the BBC reported Saturday.
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Read the original report below.
French officials said the airport was evacuated after the gunman fired shots inside the terminal, the Express reported.
He was killed by the security forces in a shop after seizing the weapon in the airport's southern terminal, the BBC reported. Nobody else was injured, officials said.
The Paris prosecutors' office confirmed later Saturday that its anti-terrorism section has taken over the investigation, The Associated Press reported.
The man was on a watch-list of radicalized individuals and had been involved in a shooting hours earlier in the north of Paris, the BBC reported.
The attacker was known to police and intelligence services, and was involved in a shooting at a police traffic stop north of Paris that morning, Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said at a news conference.
A police officer injured during the traffic stop incident is undergoing treatment but is not seriously injured, he said.
Passengers wrote on Twitter that they had heard gunshots in the south terminal and police were carrying out a security operation as they were told to flee.
A police spokesman wrote on Twitter: "Ongoing police operation. Do not cross the security perimeter, follow the instructions."
Passengers were told not to come to the airport, the Mirror reported, and all flights were redirected to Charles DeGaulle Airport, officials said.
Officials said the man approached a group of soldiers patrolling the airport and made off with the gun into a shop.
At that point shots were fired and the man was killed. His motivation is not yet known.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that the airport was evacuated soon after the shooting.
"We had queued up to check in for the Tel Aviv flight when we heard three or four shots nearby," Franck Lecam said.
Paris police were investigating whether the incident was linked to a shooting earlier Saturday during a traffic stop north of Paris, according to The Associated Press. The Paris police office says a man fired birdshot at officers who stopped him, wounding one in the face. He then fled and stole a woman's car after threatening her with a weapon. That car was found near Orly, the AP reported.
In an incident last month, a man wielding knives lunged at soldiers at Paris's Louvre museum before being shot and injured.
Orly is the second largest airport in Paris.
Credit: Anadolu Agency
Credit: Anadolu Agency
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