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Paris police fatally shot a man after he tried to attack an officer with a knife and scissors during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe on Friday, officials said. The French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation into attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise.
Officials said the attacker targeted an officer guarding the ceremony for the relighting of the eternal flame honoring unknown soldiers at the Napoleon-era monument. A Paris police official said another officer shot the attacker, and no bystanders or police officers were injured.
The counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said the suspect, a French national born in 1978, died at hospital from his injuries, and authorities did not release his name. The office said the man had previously been convicted in Belgium on terrorist-related charges.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the attacker had been sentenced in Brussels in 2013 to 17 years in prison for attempted murders in connection with a terrorist enterprise against three police officers in the Belgian city of Molenbeek the previous year. The statement said he was first incarcerated in Belgium, then transferred to France in 2015 to serve the rest of his sentence.
The prosecutor’s office also said the suspect had been released from prison on Dec. 24, 2025, and that he had been subject to judicial supervision and surveillance measures. It said authorities were investigating the Friday attack as attempted murder connected to a terrorist enterprise.
A large police presence was visible around the Arc de Triomphe on Friday evening, and the monument was closed to the public. The traffic circle surrounding the Arc de Triomphe remained open to vehicles, and the Paris public transport operator RATP said the nearby metro station was closed at police request for security reasons.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez expressed his “full support to the officer who intervened and acted with composure and determination in the face of the terrorist threat,” in a message posted on X.