French police on Thursday shot and killed a man wielding a knife and wearing a fake explosive vest at a police station in northern Paris, setting the city on edge only two months after the horrific terrorist attacks of November 13th, the worst violence on French soil since World War II.
Thursday’s incident also occurred on the one-year anniversary of the attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The Paris prosecutor said Thursday that the man shot dead by Paris police was carrying paper with an ISIS flag on it as well as a claim of responsibility.
The incident occurred outside the Goutte d’Or police station in the 18th arrondissement. According to a statement by the prosecutor’s office, the suspect was carrying a butcher’s knife and shouted “Allahu akbar” — God is greatest — before he was shot and killed by police.
RELATED: Paris attacker killed by cops had paper with ISIS flag on it: official
France has been gripped by a series of terrorism-related events for more than a year now. French President Francois Hollande on Thursday said that since the country declared a state of emergency in November, 25 cases of activity linked to terrorism have been discovered and 400 weapons have been seized. Hollande said 40 of those weapons were “weapons of war.”
Here is a look back at the string of terror events over the last 13 months:
Dec 20, 2014: Man armed with knife stabs and wounds three police officers in Joue-les-Tours, in central France. The attacker is shot dead by police.
Dec 21, 2014: Driver plows car into crowd of people in Lyon, southeastern France, injuring 11 people. The driver is arrested.
Jan 7, 2015: Two brothers storm the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people.
Jan 8, 2015: A French police officer is shot and killed in Montrouge, south of Paris.
Jan 9, 2015: Gunman takes over a kosher market in east Paris, killing four people. Police storm the shop, killing the gunman. June 26, 2015: Delivery company employee beheads his boss and tries to blow up U.S.-owned factory in eastern city of Lyon. The suspect is arrested and later kills himself in prison. Aug 21, 2015: A 26 year-old Moroccan man armed with a rifle and knife attempts attack on a high-speed train bound for Paris carrying around 500 people. The attack is thwarted by three American men, two of them US service-members. Two people, including one of the American service-members, is seriously injured with non-life threatening injuries. A third person received minor injuries. Nov 13, 2015: A series of coordinated attacks at a Paris concert venue, and at bars and restaurants and near an international soccer game, leave 130 people dead. ISIS claims responsibility for the attacks. The events spurred French President Francois Hollande to declare a state of emergency, resulting in more than 2,000 raids through France and more than 200 arrests. Jan 7, 2015: Police shoot and kill man armed with knife and wearing fake explosive vest at a police station in northern Paris. The incident occurs minutes after French President Francois Hollande gave a speech elsewhere in Paris marking the anniversary of the Charlie Hedbo attacks. Hollande during his speech said nearly 200 people have been stopped during the last year from traveling from France to Iraq or Syria. More than 50 foreigners, he added, have been kept from entering the country. Jake Cigainero contributed to this report.
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