An armed person was shot dead in the centre of Saint-Etienne.
The incident took place late on Tuesday evening in a shopping street in the centre of Saint-Etienne. A man was shot by a municipal officer who opened fire. The person was ‘aggressive’ and ‘threatened people’ with a knife, as the public prosecutor of Saint-Etienne, David Charmatz, told the AFP news agency.
He chased several pedestrians along one of the main streets in the city centre. Among others, a woman with a knife to her throat was taken hostage near the prefecture. She was slightly injured.
Shortly before the attack, the man is said to have entered a shop and declared that he was going to ‘cause a bloodbath at the Christmas market’, Le Monde reported.