22 April,2017 08:53 AM IST | | Agencies
The man who shot dead a French policeman in an Islamist militant attack had served time for armed assaults on law enforcement officers, police sources said on Friday, as authorities sought a second suspect, identified as Youssouf El Osri, flagged by Belgian security services
Police officers patrol near the site of the shooting at the Champs Elysees. Pic/AFP
Police officers patrol near the site of the shooting at the Champs Elysees. Pic/AFP
Paris: The man who shot dead a French policeman in an Islamist militant attack had served time for armed assaults on law enforcement officers, police sources said on Friday, as authorities sought a second suspect, identified as Youssouf El Osri, flagged by Belgian security services.
The gunman, identified as Karim Cheurfi, opened fire on a police car at the Champs Elysees late on Thursday, killing one officer and injuring two others before being shot dead.
The attack overshadowed the last day of campaigning for Sunday's presidential election first round, bringing raw issues surrounding Islamist militancy to the fore.
Cheurfi, a French national who lived in Chelles, had been convicted for previous armed assaults on law enforcement officers going back 16 years, the sources said, and was well known to authorities. Three of his family members have been placed in detention, the French interior ministry announced.
A spokesman confirmed that a manhunt was underway for a second individual, based on information from Belgian security services. "It's too early to say how or whether he was connected to what happened on the Champs Elysees," spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. "There are a certain number of leads to check. We are not ruling anything out."
