PARIS: A knife-wielding man who worked at police headquarters in central Paris went on a rampage on Thursday, stabbing to death four employees before himself being shot dead, officials said.

A fifth person was critically injured and was being treated in hospital after the deadliest attack on police in France in years, the motive of which was still unclear.

Sources close to the investigation said the atta­cker, a 45-year-old IT wor­ker in the police intelligence department, had converted to Islam 18 months ago.

He killed three male officers and a female assistant before being shot in the courtyard of the square stone building next to Notre-Dame cathedral in the historic heart of Paris.

The man, who was born in the French Caribbean territory of Martinique and had worked for the police since 2003, had a hearing disability. Police searched his home in a quiet residence in Gonesse, a low-income suburb north of Paris, and took his wife into custody, Heitz told reporters.

Interior Minister Chris­tophe Castaner said the assailant had “never shown any behavioural problems”.

The police were “particularly stricken by this exceptionally grave incident”, said Castaner, who postponed a planned trip to Greece and Turkey to visit the scene with President Emmanuel Macron.

The assailant used a kitchen knife to stab the three policemen in their offices before going on to attack the female employee on the staircase.

In the courtyard, he was confronted by an officer who ordered him to drop the knife. When he refused, the officer shot him in the head, police sources said.

“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.”

Initial reports said investigators believed a workplace dispute could have sparked the incident.

“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.

Thursday’s killings comes amid growing tensions within the ranks of the police, who have been stretched to the limit after a year of trying to contain weekly “yellow vest” anti-Macron demonstrations.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2019