A police officer has died and a second person has been injured in a separate shooting in southern Paris Thursday morning, according to French media reports.
An elite heavily armed French police unit had arrived at the scene in Montrouge, shortly before 11 a.m. local time, joining other police officers, firefighters and rescue workers. The public and media were being moved away from the area.
It was not immediately clear if there is a connection to Wednesday’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices, which left 12 people, including two police officers, dead.
“There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,” Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his home nearby, told The Associated Press.
He said the shooter wore dark clothes but no mask. “It didn’t look like a big gun because he held it with one hand,” Sassi said.
One man has been arrested following the incident, according to French media reports, however a second suspect is believed to be on the run.
France’s top security officials were holding a meeting at the time of the attack. Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve left the meeting and is now at the scene, according to AFP.
Twelve people were killed in what France’s president called a “terror attack” on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday, leading authorities to launch a massive manhunt for the gunmen. One man has handed himself into authorities, while a search is on for another two suspects.