A man who had recently been released from prison on a was shot dead by a police officer Friday after he allegedly tried to attack another officer with a knife and scissors near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
The incident happened near the during the ceremony to relight the eternal flame, which takes place nightly.
The unidentified man, a French national born in 1978, allegedly tried to attack an officer guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and was shot by another officer.
He died from his injuries at a hospital, the French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office stated.
In 2013, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison in Brussels for a terrorist-related offense—attempted murder of three Belgian police officers—and had just been released in December.
The man served 12 years in prison and was under police supervision with routine checks, the French prosecution office said.
The French counterterrorism said it had opened an investigation into the man before his death related to his ties to a “terrorist enterprise.”
The man was detained in a Belgian prison until 2015, when he was transferred to France and released on Christmas Eve.
The Arc de Triomphe was closed to visitors after the incident, which had no other reported injuries.
The Arc de Triomphe, located at the end of the Champs-Élysées, is one of the most popular attractions in Paris and Europe, with millions of tourists visiting the monument in the heart of the French capital each year.
Reuters and