The man who attacked with a knife and seriously injured a police officer in Chapelle-sur-Erdr, near Nantes (western France) is dead after an exchange of gunfire with police, the French gendarmerie announced.
The assailant was surrounded after a manhunt involving two police helicopters and more than 200 police officers, he said.
There was an exchange of gunfire as police moved to arrest him, police said. He died shortly afterwards and two police officers were injured, police added. The policeman is in critical condition.
Interior Minister Geral Darmaren wrote on Twitter that he was on his way to the site of the attack.
The motives of the attacker are unknown at this time. The French counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it was monitoring the situation but was not currently leading the investigation.
The perpetrator stole the victim’s weapon and initially escaped by car before getting involved in a collision, which forced him to continue on foot.
He was spotted and surrounded in a forest near Chapel-sur-Erde, the regional newspaper Ouest France reported. He opened fire on police, a police source said.
