French police shoot man attempting to set fire to synagogue

French police killed an attacker who tried to set fire to a synagogue in Rouen, France, on May 17

French police shot dead a man armed with a knife and a crowbar who was trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on social media account X.

Police responded at 6:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. GMT) to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told Agence-France Presse (AFP) the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He said there were no victims other than the attacker.

The synagogue stands in the historic centre of the city, the capital of the northern region of Normandy that lies along the River Seine.

A resident, Elias Morisse, who lives opposite the synagogue, said he heard gunshots and explosions.

“I decided to open the shutters of my apartment, and indeed I saw smoke coming from the synagogue, the police, the firefighters and in the street a body – that of the attacker who was shot,” he said.

‘Show we are not afraid’

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the man killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Darmanin congratulated the police on their “responsiveness and courage”.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

“Tonight is the beginning of the Sabbath and it’s important to light the candles to show that we are not afraid,” Rouen’s chief Rabbi Chmouel Lubecki told BFMTV.

Source: AFP