Police shoot woman who threatened terrorism in Paris station
Two inquiries have been opened after the suspect - who said she wanted ‘to blow everything up’ - was shot in the stomach
A woman at the RER station at Austerlitz in Paris was reported to be threatening terrorist acts
4kclips / Shutterstock
Police in France have shot a woman who was wearing a full-body covering, hiding her hands, and who was reportedly using threatening language and advocating terrorist acts.
The incident happened at 09:30 this morning (Tuesday, October 31) at the RER station at Austerlitz, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
Police have reported that the suspect was wearing an abaya (a long-sleeved, full-body covering worn by Muslim women, often worn with a veil or a headscarf), and was threatening passers-by, saying she wanted to “blow everything up”.
She was then spotted at Bibliothèque François Mitterrand station, hiding her hands in her outfit.
An anti-terrorist BAC (brigade anticommando) team intervened, and tried to isolate her from passengers. They asked her to show her hands, but she continued shouting 'Allahu Akbar', police said. She was shot after repeatedly ignoring police orders.
The woman was hit in the stomach. She was taken to hospital urgently, and is now in a serious but stable condition. Her identity has not yet been revealed.
Sniffer dogs and bomb squads were then deployed to check the station for explosives.
The Paris public prosecutor's office has opened two investigations into the incident.
The first is into the suspect’s behaviour, including investigations into ‘terrorism apology’, ‘making death threats’ and ‘intimidation of a public official to prevent them from carrying out their duties’. This is being handled by the judicial police.
The second investigation has been referred to the police’s own internal investigations department, the IGPN (l'inspection générale de la police nationale), into the charge of ‘deliberate violence involving the use of a firearm’, to further ascertain the circumstances of the shooting.
France is currently on the highest security alert for terrorism threats.
‘Urgence attentat’ is the third and highest level of the anti-terrorist Vigipirate system in France, which can be temporarily put in place in the immediate aftermath of a security crisis.
Read more: What is France’s Vigipirate alert system?
The level was raised after a teacher was killed in an attack in Arras, and due to increased tensions as a result of the Gaza-Israel conflict.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told TF1 earlier this month: “There is no clear-cut threat [of a terrorist attack on France], but there is an extremely negative atmosphere, notably due to the call for acts of violence.”
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