Man Shot Dead After Seizing Soldier's Weapon at Airport

Incident may be linked to earlier Paris-area attack
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 18, 2017 5:31 AM CDT
Man Shot Dead After Seizing Soldier's Weapon at Airport
A traveling woman holds a baby outside the Orly airport, south of Paris, Saturday, March, 18, 2017.   (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A man was shot to death Saturday after seizing the weapon of a soldier guarding Paris' Orly Airport, police and witnesses say. Authorities evacuated visitors while a police operation was underway. Emergency vehicles surrounded the airport as confused passengers gathered in parking lots, and the elite RAID special police force worked to secure the airport, the AP reports. French national police said that only one man was involved in the attack and denied reports of a possible second attacker. A national police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that about 3,000 people were being evacuated from Orly.

Passengers at Orly airport told of gunshots and panic. A witness identified only as Dominque said on BFM television: "The soldiers took aim at the man, who in turn pointed the gun he had seized at the two soldiers." Paris police are investigating whether the is linked to a shooting earlier Saturday in Stains north of Paris. Police officials say a man fired at police officers with a gun that fired birdshot, wounding one in the face, when stopped for a police traffic check early Saturday morning. The man then fled, threatening a motorist with a weapon to steal her car. Police say that car was later found close to the Orly Airport. (More France stories.)

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