New Delhi: French police have arrested a man suspected of killing one person and injuring two others in a knife and hammer attack in central Paris. The attack took place at Bir Hakeim, near the Eiffel Tower, France’s Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told reporters at the scene on Saturday night.
The man arrested was a French citizen previously known to intelligence services, CNN reported.
A German tourist born in the Philippines was killed in the attack and two others sustained injuries. One of the police officers responding to the scene used a taser to neutralize the attacker, Darmanin said. The suspect’s life is not at risk, he added
Addressing reporters, Darmanin said that the suspect was born in France in 1997 and had been sentenced to four years in prison back in 2016 for planning “violent action.”
The suspect was known to intelligence services for having “serious psychiatric disorders,” Darmanin added.
The minister said he had been told by police that the attacker had reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the assault, the report added.