Paris Guard Fires on Man with Machete at Louvre
French police have arrested a man they say attacked a soldier near the Louvre museum on Friday.
The incident happened at the Carrousel de Lourve, a shopping center near the entrance to the museum. Local reports say the man was wielding a machete and said “Alluha akbar” as he approached a guard. Four guards tried to fight the man off, but he was unable to be calmed. A guard shot and injured the man and he was taken into custody.
He was shot five times in his legs. The soldier sustained injuries to his arm.
Yves Lefebvre, a police union official, told local reporters that the attacker was carrying to backpacks and two machetes. He said the suspect began to attack the soldier when he was told he could not bring his backpacks into the shopping center. No explosives were found in the bags upon inspection.
“That’s when he got his knife out and that’s when he tried to stab the soldier,” Lefebvre said.
Prime Minister Bernard Cazenueve said the attack was “terrorist in nature.”
A second suspect has been arrested, but police have not released any information on that person’s role in the incident.
About 250 people where inside the Louvre when the attack happened. They were asked to stay inside the museum while security measures were set in place to keep anyone from coming in or going out. Police released the tourists after the scene was cleared.
The incident comes after the Paris attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 people. Despite the country’s moves to create more security for the people, another attack in July 2016 claimed the lives of another 86 people when a truck was driven down the sidewalks of Promenade des Anglais during Bastille Day celebrations.