Rescue service workers evacuate an injured person on a stretcher after the shooting in Montrouge which left a female police officer dead
The officer was shot after stopping in the street to investigate a traffic accident
Terrified
workers in Paris’s business district were warned not to leave their
office after a gunmen was seen outside – just hours after a female
police officer was shot dead by a ‘North African wielding an assault
rifle’.
Workers
in Paris's business district La Defense received an email this morning,
warning them to stay in their offices as an armed gunman had been
spotted in the area, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.
The
email was sent the same morning a police officer, who has not been
named, died after being attacked just before dawn in Montrouge, a suburb
in the south of the French capital.
The
street cleaner - who stepped in and confronted the gunman - is also
said to be in a serious condition, after he was shot in the face.
This
shooting came less than 24 hours after the massacre at the Paris
offices of Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 dead - including two police
officers.
It is not known if the two attacks are linked.
It is thought the assailant used an M5 assault rifle in the attack, before fleeing the scene wearing a 'bullet-proof vest''
A distraught woman is led away from the scene after the shooting in the southern suburb of Paris
France's top security official Bernard Cazenueve said the officer hurt in this morning's attack - reported to be a trainee - had stopped to investigate a traffic accident when the firing started.
The gunman is believed to have been driving one of the cars.
'There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,' said Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his home nearby.
He said the shooter wore dark clothes but no mask.
'It didn't look like a big gun because he held it with one hand,' Sassi said.
The street sweeper, who was also hurt in the attack, is said to have been seriously injured
Police look for evidence left behind by the two men - at least one of whom was armed with a gun
A bullet found at the scene in Montrouge after two people were shot in the street at about 8am
Two people confronted the gunman, who is understood to have been driving the car involved in the accident
The gunman - who is understood to have been armed with an M5 assault rifle - blasted the officer.
The street cleaner who was shot in the face was one of two men who tried to grapple with the man during the incident, The Times reports.
The cleaner was said to be in a serious condition by one police source, while another said emergency services had tried to revive the police officer at the scene 'but she was in a very bad way'.
Another witness, William Thomas, a 19-year-old who lives close to this morning's attack, said: 'I was woken up by the first three shots.
'Then I heard someone shout "Take that" and there were another two shots. It was before 8am.'
The automatic gunfire was followed by the arrival of numerous special operations police, accompanied by emergency services.
A man who appeared to be of North African origin was seen running away from the scene. He was thought to be wearing a bullet proof vest.
'Emergency workers tried to revive the woman officer at the scene but she was in a very bad way,' an officer at the scene had said earlier.
Attack came less than 24 hours after 12 people were shot dead at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, also in Paris
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve - pictured second left, at the site of the shooting in Montrouge - said the shooter was still at large
Members of the French national police intervention group (BRI) prepare to enter a hotel as they carry out searches in the area
A man arrested by police is escorted in a hotel in Montrouge during investigations following the shooting of a female police officer
The second suspect drove away in white Renault Clio. One of the men was arrested, said a local police spokesman. He was described as a 53-year-old.
Cazeneuve - who visited the scene - says the attacker in the shooting Thursday remained at large.
French officials confirmed the female officer died this morning, bringing to three the number of officers killed in the French capital in the last 24 hours.
Two officers were killed in the Charlie Hebdo massacre: Ahmed Merabet, 42, and Franck Brinsolaro, 49.
Meanwhile, police are understood to be closing in on the two 'armed and dangerous' brothers who carried out yesterday's attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
A map showing the location of the two shootings - as well as the movements of the police and Charlie Hebdo suspects since the first attack
Police are said to have located brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi - alleged to have carried out the massacre - in northern France
Cherif and Said Kouachi are thought to have been located in northern France.
A petrol station attendant was said to have identified the men, who were driving a white Renault Clio in the direction of Paris 'with exposed Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers' inside the vehicle, a source told RTL.
Detectives identified the Kouachis after one left his identification papers in the abandoned Citroen car used to escape after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Their alleged getaway driver Hamyd Mourad, 18, turned himself into police in Charleville-Mezieres in northern France.
A French police source said Mourad, a student, was encouraged to hand himself in by relatives after his name appeared on social media as a suspect for the killings.