French Police Shoot Man Attempting To Police Station

NBC – NANCY ING and CASSANDRA VINOGRAD

PARIS — Police fatally shot a knife-wielding man attempting to enter a Paris police station on Thursday, according to an official and local media.

The incident came as France marked the one-year anniversary of the deadly Charlie Hebdo terror attacks.

The Paris police press office confirmed to NBC News that shots were fired outside the force’s Goutte d’Or station in the 18th arrondissement.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior told BFM TV that a man tried to attack a police officer with a knife before he was shot dead. Police said the man shouted “allahu akbar” — God is great — and appeared to have some sort of explosive device, spokesman Pierre Henry Brandet added.

NBC News was not immediately able to independently confirm those details.

Images from the scene showed armed police securing the area and numerous emergency-services vehicles. The Paris firefighters brigade urged locals to avoid the area, saying an intervention was underway.

Schools in the neighborhood were locked down as a precaution.

News of the shooting came shortly after French President Francois Hollande told police forces that a “terrorist threat” remained in an address marking the grim anniversary.

The office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine, was the first target in a multi-day terror spree which began on Jan. 7, 2015. The attacks left 20 people dead, including three terrorists.

Less than a year later, Islamist extremists laid siege to Paris and killed 130 people across the city.

France has been under a state of emergency since those Nov. 13 attacks.