Paris: A veteran police employee in France slipped a knife through security at the heavily guarded Police Headquarters in the heart of Paris on Thursday, killing four of his colleagues before being shot dead in the building’s vast courtyard.
The employee, a 45-year-old man who worked in computer services for the intelligence division of the Paris police, moved methodically from his office, up the stairs and back down, killing one woman and three men as he went, police union officials told French television.
The attack immediately raised fears of a return to the waves of terrorism that hit Paris in 2015 and 2016, which included assaults on the police, although officials were looking elsewhere for a motive, at least for now.
Discontent among police officers was already rising before the attack, and the authorities will almost certainly be asked to explain how a man with a knife was able to enter a heavily secured Police Headquarters filled with armed officers and kill four people before finally being brought down.
The attacks began shortly before 1 p.m. Paris time. The suspect, a 20-year-veteran of the force, was not immediately identified by the police. He struck in his own office first before going upstairs to kill two more colleagues, Mr. Jacob, the union official, said. By then, the alarm had been raised. As the attacker entered the sprawling courtyard, traversed by thousands of visitors every day, a police officer took out his weapon and shot him, officials said.
