Police shoot knifeman who tried to set hearth to a synagogue in France
- A source close to the case said the man was wielding a knife and an iron bar
French police have killed an armed man who was trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen early this morning.
Smoke was spotted coming out of the synagogue, in the Rue des Bons Enfants (Good Children Road) soon after 6.45am, a Rouen police source said.
‘Fire engines arrived with police and attempts to start a fire were brought under control,’ he said, adding that the man became aggressive and tried to attack the emergency services upon their arrival.
Police fired five times ‘after the man threw an iron bar at officers, and then tried to attack them with a knife,’ the source said.
‘National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,’ Darmanin wrote on X.
‘I congratulate them on their responsiveness and courage,’ he concluded.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the Mayor of Rouen, said: ‘Through this attack and this attempted fire at the Rouen synagogue, it is not only the Jewish community that is affected. The entire city of Rouen is bruised and in shock.’
France recently raised its alert level to the highest level against the backdrop of tensions in Middle East and Israel‘s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, a Holocaust memorial in Paris was defaced with red hands in an act of vandalism described as ‘unspeakable’ by the city’s mayor.
The authorities have also placed guards around several of France’s synagogues in anticipation of such attacks.
Emergency services were seen at the synagogue early this morning
A source close to the case said the man was wielding a knife and an iron bar before he was shot by police
The shocking incident comes just days after French authorities in Rouen launched an ‘unprecedented’ manhunt after a notorious gangster who escaped jail during a deadly ambush on a prison van earlier this week.
Darmanin said ‘all means are being used’ to find Mohamed Amra, 30 – known locally as ‘The Fly’ – after Tuesday’s daring escape.
Two officers were killed and three injured when armed men opened fire on the prison van as it took Amra back to jail from a courthouse in Normandy, sparking national outrage.
Dramatic footage showed the chilling moments the prison van was rammed by a black SUV before gunmen, in hoods and balaclavas, appeared and opened fire with military-grade weapons.
Darmanin described the assault as ‘coldblooded barbarity’, pledging ‘several hundred’ gendarmes and police officers to track down the missing convict as President Emmanuel Macron said ‘everything’ is being done to locate them.
The drug gang boss and his posse were described as ‘armed and very dangerous’.
A black SUV rams into the prison van carrying ‘La Mouche’ at a motorway toll on Tuesday
Footage also shows gunmen at the scene, filmed from a passing coach, where three prison officers were shot dead
A graphic detailing how the deadly attack unfolded at a motorway toll station in north-west France
The inmate, Mohammed Amra, reportedly nicknamed ‘La Mouche’ (The Fly), was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy before the bloodbath unfolded
Footage shows the moment a car rammed into a French police vehicle at the Incarville tollbooth, Normandy
The two officers who died at the scene of the attack were Arnaud Garcia (L) and Fabrice Moello (R)
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti lamented that the victims, Mr Moelle and Mr Garcia, were ‘slaughtered like dogs by men for whom life means nothing’, one of the victims leaving behind a pregnant wife.
Chilling footage of the executions captured the moment over 30 rounds were discharged from automatic weapons.
In the south of France, prison officers blocked the entrance to a jail in Beziers in protest and observed a minute’s silence in tribute to the victims of the horrifying attack.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal called the ambush ‘despicable’ and an attack on the nation and vowed to hunt down the gang.
Commentators pointed to the incident as an example of the growing violence and power of the country’s drug gangs.
The atrocity took place in daylight as the prison convoy was two-thirds of the way through a 34-mile journey from Rouen in Normandy back to jail in the town of Évreux after a morning court hearing.
Amra, who allegedly ordered a gangland execution two years ago, had appeared before an investigating magistrate.
As the convoy paused at Incarville tollbooth on the A154 motorway near Val-de-Reuil, the SUV drove into the lead van, effectively blocking it.
Masked men in black emerged from two other cars, brandishing weapons, believed to be pump action rifles and automatic machine guns. They opened fire with armed officers inside the prison vans firing back. One of the attackers is believed to have been injured in the shoot-out.
At one point, a member of the gang was spotted on chilling footage making sure a victim was dead with a ‘double tap’ shot to the head.
Some officers scrambled to grab their service pistols, but they could not match the gang’s immense firepower.
The coordinated attack was over in five minutes, having been played out in front of motorists, including a coach whose passengers took mobile phone videos.
Three wounded officers remain in intensive care, one with a bullet in the forehead, Dupond-Moretti revealed.
