Driver Rams Into Police Van on Paris' Champs Élysées

The attacker is dead, no other injuries reported

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 19, 2017 3:15 PM CDT

39 comments Comments

Police attend the scene on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, France, June 19, 2017. A man on the radar of French authorities was killed Monday after ramming a car carrying explosives into a police vehicle... (AP Photo/Matthieu Alexandre)

Shrink — Police attend the scene on Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, France, June 19, 2017. A man on the radar of French authorities was killed Monday after ramming a car carrying explosives into a police vehicle... (AP Photo/Matthieu Alexandre)

(Newser) – An anti-terror investigation has been opened in France after a man rammed a car carrying firearms and a gas canister into a police van on Paris' famed Champs Élysées Monday afternoon. The driver, reportedly a 31-year-old French national who had known links to suspected extremists and was on a terror watchlist, was killed in the incident; no other injuries were reported. France's interior minister described the incident as an "attempted attack" on a convoy of police vehicles that were on the avenue, the Guardian reports. An explosion followed the collision, and a journalist on the scene says he saw police break the car's windows in order to pull the driver out. Bomb squad officers were on the scene, the AP reports.

View 1 more image

My Take on This Story

Report a story error

Show results without voting |

12%

Hilarious

7%

Intriguing

16%

Depressing

2%

Brilliant

60%

Scary

2%

Ridiculous

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Story 39 comments

You Might Like

Sponsored by ZergNet

Next on Newser: S&P 500, Dow Close at All-Time Highs

Comments

Read comment policy

Showing 3 of 39 comments

Ezekiel 25:17

Jun 20, 2017 10:57 AM CDT

"We" watched the players of the WTC bombing and at one juncture, the FBI/ATF had plans to replace their explosives with inert material. The NYC imam figured out that plan or someone tipped him off, such as a Muslim inside NYPD. So the swap never took place and it went to plan. Similar events happened with 9/11 as Zacharious Moussaoui sent then president Clinton a warning email before he left the University of Oklahoma for the very last time. Also at that time, two of the tickets used in the attack were purchased from a terminal in the OU library. A story about the librarian who helped Moussaoui buy the tickets is here http://www.reddirtreport.com/red-dirt-news/okc-911-link-media-and-authorities-willfully-ignored Where did he get the money to buy the tickets? It came from Nick Berg (later beheaded by ISIS). Well, he stole it from Nick Berg because he stole Berg's OU 4+4 credentials. He used Pell Grant funds to buy the tickets (ironic that money that came from Clinton's US DOE paid for 2 of the hijacker tickets). http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/13/berg.encounter/ Where I got involved in this was when I worked for OU's IT infrastructure. We knew about someone sending the threat to then president Clinton because the Secret Service served a search warrant and that included a clause to physically remove the computer tied to the IP address where the 9/11 threat originated. We took them to the 3rd floor reference station and they completely remove everything. Then OU president Boren demanded that when students returned from class for the start of the Spring 2002 semester, they would find no open terminals on the campus. Before that, all of the colleges and libraries had open browsing spaces. You just walked in and browsed away at your leisure. After Mr. Boren's decree, you had to log in using 4+4 LDAP credentials. Ok, now I put on my lead foil hat. This happened but I put it in the Twilight Zone area. My boss at the time came to me one time and said, "Hey, that head 9/11 guy Mohammad Atta was in the food court when you and I ate there before 9/11. " I said "I can faintly remember but not enough to call the FBI tip line." He replied, "Well, it needs to be you to call because I think you talked to him." I then remembered talking to a guy whom I fixed a computer problem at the NEL building. That was at one time the location of OU's operating nuclear reactor. It is now known as engineering physics. The reactor infrastructure is still in the basement of the NEL building but the U-235 is gone, deemed an inappropriate science as the US ends its venture into nuclear energy as China ramps it up in turbo speed. I never called the 9/11 tip line because I thought the Mohammad Atta sighting was too faint in my memory to help. Ok, double up on the lead foil and add some antimony foil. I'm throwing this out there. I was in Vegas in summer 2001 and dining at the Luxor Pharaoh's Pheast. If you ever at there before the chef strike, you know it was one of the best buffets in town. After the strike, they did not hire back any of the chefs and now its like Golden Corral. So its breakfast and I'm at the omelet bar. I'm behind a Middle eastern guy. He's next and then 3 of his friends show up. I've waited in a long line for a long time and now 3 guys cut in front of me. Since then, I believe these 4 guys could have been 9/11 actors. It would have been Muhammad Atta, Hussein Al Attas, and friends of Bin Laden. I later learned that Atta had visited Vegas that summer and Bin Laden's sister was reported to have met with them. http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/iteam-what-brought-the-911-hijackers-to-las-vegas/77208765 I got rather upset when the guy who looked like Atta let 3 of his friends cut to get omelets made. I left my plate and tray at the line and went to the rest of the buffet. We learned a good trick while there. You wait until right before breakfast closes to dine. Then they close the line. Then you eat very slow. Then they set up for lunch and put out the carved roast, prime rib, and such. We then eat lunch. We are usually good for the day except for a late night snack at a food court.

NCFisher

Jun 20, 2017 7:55 AM CDT

Rep. Pelosi has proposed that persons on U.S. watch lists should be barred from buying cars and pink ceramic knives, and leasing large trucks. And wearing underwear and shoes, but only on planes. Making us safe, one innocuous article at a time!

Eastwind7

Jun 20, 2017 6:51 AM CDT

Time and time again, in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia, known terror suspects walk around free, and launch these deadly attacks. At what point will our Western democracies realize that by failing to put these people into preventive detention, by failing to criminalize their membership in terror organizations, we are enabling their lethal attacks on innocent citizens, and on law enforcement.