At least two people were wounded in a knife attack Friday outside the former Paris office of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly — and a suspect has been arrested, according to reports.
Authorities initially said four people were wounded in, but a police official told The Associated Press that there are in only two confirmed wounded. Other media outlets also have reported four victims.
Police also thought at first that two attackers were involved, but they now believe there is one suspect, who was detained near the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris, according to reports. The identity of the alleged attacker was not released.
The wounded are in “absolutely urgent” condition, the official said on condition of anonymity.
“I was in my office. I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete,” a witness told Europe 1 radio, Reuters reported.
“I saw a second neighbor on the floor and I went to help,” the witness said.
One police source said a machete was found at the scene. Another police source said a meat cleaver was found there.
The attack happened on Rue Nicolas Appert at the site of a memorial to the murdered journalists and cartoonists, the Local reported.
It was not immediately unclear what motivated the or whether it had any ties to Charlie Hebdo, which moved offices after it the 2015 attack by Islamic extremists Said and Cherif Kouachi who killed 12 people inside.
A female cop was killed a day later, followed later by the killing of four men at a Jewish supermarket by gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
The 2015 attack was claimed by a branch of Al Qaeda.
The incident comes as 14 people who are accused of being accomplices in the Charlie Hebdo attacks are on trial in the French capital, with the widows of the attackers expected to testify Friday.
The court heard that the Charlie Hebdo attackers had sought to avenge the Prophet Mohammad, nearly a decade after the weekly published cartoons mocking him.
On Thursday, the trial was suspended for a day after one of the accused fell ill in the box, according to Agence France-Presse. The defendant, Nezar Mickael Pastor Alwatik, was expected to undergo medical tests including for the coronavirus, his lawyer said.
A female police officer was killed a day later, followed the next day by the killing of four men in a hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket by gunman Amedy Coulibaly.
This is a developing story
