A man suspected of stabbing several people in the heart of Marseille on Tuesday afternoon was shot dead by police, a police source said.
Near a shop located on Cours Belsunce, a stone’s throw from the Old Port and a major drug trafficking hub in Marseille, the assailant stabbed at least four people before police officers quickly intervened, according to another police source. The exact condition of these victims is not known at this stage.
An eyewitness, a local resident, told AFP journalists at the scene that the police arrived “very quickly.” “They tried to arrest him in front of a fast-food restaurant, and then the man tried to attack a police officer with a knife. The officer shouted ‘stop, stop,’ before hearing gunfire,” he added.
Another witness to the scene reported seeing a man with “two large butcher knives.” It was “apparently a fight outside a kebab shop,” a source close to the case said.
The entire area was blocked around 4 p.m., and two tram lines were interrupted for part of their route, according to the Marseille transport authority. A forensic police tent was erected in front of a fast-food restaurant, and black tarps covered the terrace.
