The man was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached the police who fired, the individual died,” a source close to the case told AFP.
An armed man who attempted to burn down a synagogue in Rouen on Friday morning was killed by police, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced.
National police said officers were alerted early Friday morning that smoke was rising from the synagogue and came face-to-face with the man when they arrived on scene. The National Police Information Service said the man lunged at officers with a knife and a metal bar. An officer opened fire and fatally injured the man, police said.
The mayor (PS) of the city, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, quickly went to the site and thanked “the national forces, the municipal police, SAMU, the firefighters who are currently controlling the outbreak of the fire”, adding: ” A priori no victims other than the armed individual.”
The mayor of Rouen said the man allegedly climbed on a garbage container and threw “a sort of Molotov cocktail” inside the synagogue, starting a fire and causing “significant damage.”