Paris Shooting: Gunman Shoots 3 On Champs-Elysees, Killing Officer
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PARIS (CBSDFW.COM) - The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the attack on police in Paris' iconic Champs-Elysees shopping district Thursday night, killing one officer and seriously wounding two others before police shot and killed him.
Investigators were conducting searches early Friday in at least one eastern suburb of Paris, according to three police officials. Authorities were trying to determine whether the assailant had accomplices, anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters at the scene.
The attacker emerged from a car and used an automatic weapon to shoot at officers outside a Marks & Spencer's store at the center of the Champs-Elysees, Molins said. Two police officers and a woman tourist were wounded, he said.
The attacker had been flagged as an extremist, according to two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.
A French government spokesman says the assailant opened fire on a Paris police van and was armed with an automatic firearm akin to a "war weapon."
French Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the police officers were "deliberately" targeted.
