8 Jan 2015

Policewoman dies after second Paris shooting

A policewoman is shot dead after a man fires gunshots in a Paris attack possibly unrelated to the Charlie Hebdo shooting on Wednesday.

Two people are in custody after a policewoman was shot in Montrouge in southern Paris by a man who fired on her with an automatic rifle. Police said that they were treating the shooting as a terrorist act.

A city employee, reported to be a street sweeper, was also shot and is in critical condition.

The 27-year-old policewoman has been named as Clarissa Jean-Philippe. She was on patrol as a municipal police officer and was shot in the head by the attacker who then escaped. She died on the scene.

Police sources told Agence France-Presse two people had been detained following the Montrouge shooting.

‘No connection’

The Ministry of the Interior tweeted on Thursday afternoon that there was no evidence of a connection between the Montrouge shooting and the Charlie Hebdo killings.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve earlier warned against jumping to any conclusions about the attack.

“There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,” eyewitness Ahmed Sassi told AFP. 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,” Mr Sassi said.

France is on high alert on after gunmen attacked the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, killing 12 people and injuring at least 11 others.

Police are still searching for two suspects in relation to the killing. Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, both in their early thirties, were armed and dangerous, said police.