A man convicted of terrorism has been shot dead in Paris after he tried to attack police during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe. The man said he wanted to carry out a massacre.
The man was hit by several shots when he threatened police officers during a ceremony to light the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a police source told the AFP news agency.
A member of the honor guard suffered minor injuries when the man brandished a knife, before another officer opened fire and shot the attacker, according to the police.
The attacker was also armed with a pair of scissors.
President Emmanuel Macron praised the police for “intervening with force and stopping this terrorist attack”.
France’s national prosecution office for anti-terrorism states that the man’s name was Brahim Bahrir, was born in 1978 and had French citizenship. He died of his injuries on the way to hospital, the office says.
The man was radicalized and was on a watch list, says a source with knowledge of the case. The source says the man had called a police station near the Paris suburb where he lived to say he was going to “carry out a massacre”. The police therefore began hunting for the man.
He had previously been sentenced to 17 years in prison for attempted murder, terrorism and other charges in Belgium, where in 2012 he attacked three police officers.
He was released from prison in December 2025.
date:2026-02-13 23:58:00