Female officer among four killed in knife rampage by crazed colleague inside Paris police HQ
Witnesses have told of how a deaf man wielding a knife has gone on a violent rampage inside a police station in Paris, killing four police officers before he was shot dead. WARNING: Graphic
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Witnesses have told of how Paris turned into a scene of panic after a deaf IT assistant went on a knife rampage in Paris’s police headquarters, killing three police officers and an administration assistant before being shot dead.
A fifth person was critically injured and was being treated in hospital.
The shocking incident took place in the heart of Paris near Notre Dame cathedral, sending the world-renowned tourist area into lockdown in the middle of the day.
Michael Harpon, 45, is said to have entered the building next door to Notre Dame Cathedral with a ceramic knife before launching into a bloody rampage during a “moment of madness”.
It’s understood his weapon could not be picked up by metal detectors.
Investigators say the motive for the shocking attack is not yet clear, but they suspect the killer - who worked at the headquarters in administration for two decades - was involved in a workplace dispute.
Harpon converted to Islam 18 months ago but police say there is no suggested he converted to Islam or that his rampage was a terrorist attack.
A source said: “He was involved in an argument with someone and then erupted in anger, targeting other police colleagues before being neutralised.
“The attacker is believed to have been an administrative officer working in a secure part of the building — making it very easy for him to walk around freely.”
The Telegraph reported that the assailant was born in the French Caribbean overseas department of Martinique.
The Sun reports that the attack appears to have started in an office before the attacker went through the large police compound, police union official Loic Travers said.
He charged down the stairs stabbing more officers before reaching a large courtyard where he was neutralised, according to BFM TV.
He was shot dead after running into a hero police officer who was on his lunch break after he failed to heed demands to drop his weapon, according to Le Parisien.
One witness described the panic after gunshots rang out when the attacker was killed.
He told Le Parisien: “I heard a shot, I think it was around 12.30.
“Around me there were only policemen. They immediately unsheathed their weapons.”
He added: “Then a few moments later I saw policewomen in tears. I thought it must be serious.
“The police were in a panic, they were running everywhere. Many people were crying. “
A witness told the paper: “The policeman who was taking a break on duty called out three times but the assailant did not stop.
“He fired two shots and I saw the man fall.”
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the attacker was known to his colleagues and had worked for some time in the IT department.
“He had never presented any behavioural issues, he had never presented the slightest cause for alarm before going on his deadly rampage today,” Mr Castaner said.
Christophe Crépin, spokesman for the union France Police Policeman in Anger, said he was told the attacker got hold of a firearm before he was shot dead.
“I know this man. He worked in IT and he had long-running problems with his superior,” Mr Crepin said. “He stabbed her first and then colleagues intervened and were stabbed as well. I am told he then got hold of a firearm.
“An employee who I, unfortunately, knew lost the plot and attacked his colleagues. I crossed him several times but he didn’t make waves. We knew he had issues with his superior. Lots of people do but to go as far as killing someone is a tragedy.”
The knifeman had full security clearance and had been in his job for 20 years, colleagues said.
Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo said it was the police service’s heaviest loss of life in a single day since World War II.
Union official Loic Travers said the alleged attacker was an administrator in the intelligence unit.
Mayor Hidalgo tweeted: “Paris is mourning his people this afternoon after this appalling attack on the @prefpolice. The toll is heavy, several policemen have lost their lives. In my name and that of Parisians, my first thoughts go to the families and the relatives of the victims.”
The premises were cordoned off after the lunchtime attack in the historic centre of Paris, usually thronged with tourists, and a dozens of police and emergency vehicles had converged at the scene.
At least one metro station in the vicinity of the building, which is close to Notre Dame cathedral and other major tourist attractions, was closed.
Sources said the attacker was shot dead by police in the courtyard of the building, where he was employed.
The man worked in an administrative capacity but it was not immediately clear what his precise work role was.
A source said: “He was involved in an argument with someone and then erupted in anger, targeting other police colleagues before being neutralised.
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“The attacker is believed to have been an administrative officer working in a secure part of the building — making it very easy for him to walk around freely.”
One witness said: “People were running everywhere, there was crying everywhere.
“I heard a shot, I gathered it was inside,” he said. “Moments later, I saw police officers crying. They were in a panic.”
An emergency message was broadcast over loudspeakers at the courthouse next door, announcing “an attack” at the police headquarters and stating the area was “under surveillance”.
Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who was due to visit Turkey later on Thursday, postponed his trip to visit the scene of the attack.
“People were running everywhere, there was crying everywhere,” said Emery Siamandi, an interpreter who was in the building when the attack happened.
“I heard a shot, I gathered it was inside,” he said. “Moments later, I saw police officers crying. They were in a panic.”
Investigators suspect a workplace dispute sparked the deadliest attack on police in France in years, sources said, but there were no immediate further details.
The Paris prosecutor is at the scene, but anti-terror agencies have not been involved at this stage.
“Did he snap, or was there some other reason? It’s still too early to say,” Loic Travers, head of the Alliance Police union for the Paris region, told BFM television.
There was no immediate indication of the possible motives of the attacker.
France has been rocked since 2015 by a succession of attacks blamed on jihadists, which have included both large synchronised assaults and isolated knife and gun attacks, killing more than 250 people.
The country remains on high alert after these attacks.
The attack at the police headquarters also came as tension grows within the ranks of the police force, who have been stretched to the limit by policing the “yellow vest” protests against President Emmanuel Macron and have themselves been accused of heavy-handed tactics.
Thousands of French police officers demonstrated in Paris on Wednesday for better working conditions in a rare protest by the force, against the backdrop of a spike in suicides within their ranks.
Organisers estimated that 27,000 officers took part, out of 150,000 police staff nationwide. No independent estimate was available.
In January 2015, two men armed with Kalashnikov rifles stormed the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people.
A policewoman was killed just outside Paris the following day, while a gunman took hostages at a Jewish supermarket, four of whom were killed.
On November 15 that year, France was hit by the worst terror attacks in its history.
Islamic State jihadists armed with assault rifles and explosives struck outside a France-Germany football match at the national stadium, Paris cafes, and the Bataclan concert hall in a coordinated assault that left 130 people dead and more than 350 wounded.
On July 14, 2016 a Tunisian ploughed a truck through a large crowd gathered for Bastille Day fireworks in the Mediterranean city of Nice. The attack killed 86 people and injured more than 400.
Union official Loic Travers says the motive is unknown, but the employee allegedly responsible for the violence apparently never posed any problems before.
The assailant was armed with a ceramic knife which could not be picked up by metal detectors used by the building’s security, according to sources quoted by one local website.
French media say the country’s interior minister and the Paris prosecutor were on their way to the scene.
Originally published as Female officer among four killed in knife rampage by crazed colleague inside Paris police HQ
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