Police officer dies following shooting in southern Paris
A policewoman died of her injuries following a shootout in southern Paris on Thursday, according to a police source, heightening tensions a day after the deadly terrorist attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.
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Franceās Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a manhunt was under way for the suspect in the shooting, which also left a city employee seriously injured.
The officer had stopped to investigate a traffic accident in the southern Paris suburb of Montrouge early Thursday morning when she came under fire.
āThere was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,ā said witness Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his home nearby.
He said the shooter wore dark clothes but no mask. āIt didnāt look like a big gun because he held it with one hand,ā Sassi added.
Live French television showed around a dozen police dressed in protective wear and helmets massed outside a building near the scene of the crime.
The shootout comes in the wake of the murder of 12 people ā including two police officers ā in an assault on Charlie Hebdoās offices in central Paris.
It was not immediately clear, however, whether the two incidents were connected, and Cazeneuve warned against drawing any conclusions about Thursdayās shooting.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, REUTERS)
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