A “known radical” suspected of carrying out a knife attack in France died from injuries sustained in a shootout with police on Friday, hours after he badly wounded a female officer in the latest violence directed at police in recent months.
The man, who was on a terrorist watchlist according to the Interior Ministry, had been on the run after the attack in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre near the western city of Nantes.
Eighty officers were dispatched to pursue him and two gendarmes were wounded during an exchange of fire that resulted in the arrest of the suspect, authorities said, with one suffering from shock.
No motive for the stabbing has emerged, but the attacker was “a known radical and suffering from a very serious psychiatric illness”, one source involved in the investigation said.
After stabbing the officer at a police station, inflicting life-threatening injuries, the suspect stole her service weapon and fled on foot.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, arriving at the scene in the afternoon, confirmed that the suspect was known to police as a radical.
