PARIS, FRANCE - APRIL 20: Police secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees on April 20, 2017 in Paris, France. One police officer has been killed, and a second injured by a gunman on The Champs Elysees. Security is heightened in Paris with the first round of France's presidential election on Sunday. (Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
A security operation is underway in the Champs-Elysees shopping district in Paris, France. A suspected attacker allegedly drove his car into a police van and the bomb squad is on the scene after the vehicle burst into flames.
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/876819964556136448
What’s Happening?
https://twitter.com/AP/status/876804520709369856
A French security official says that the attacker on Champs-Elysees avenue is probably dead and the bomb squad is on the scene.
Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet says the driver whose car exploded as he tried to ram a police vehicle is “most probably” dead.
Brandet said bomb squads were still securing the scene. He said the attacker appeared to have acted deliberately.
UPDATE 11:30 A.M. – The attacker’s car contained weapons and explosives.
https://twitter.com/News_8/status/876830283340951556
https://twitter.com/qnewsdesk/status/876806730134507521
https://twitter.com/MelissaBellCNN/status/876800660875902976
Police have cordoned off the shopping area and are investigating. Authorities have warned Paris residents and tourists to avoid the area at this time.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/876808469092851713
France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation into the incident.
No injuries have been reported.
France remains in a state of emergency after being hit by a wave of deadly terror attacks in recent years beginning with the November 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks.
A policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded in an attack on the Champs Elysees in April, just days before the presidential election.
Champs-Elysees
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 1.9 kilometres long and 70 metres wide, running between the Place de la Concorde and the Place Charles de Gaulle, where the Arc de Triomphe is located. It is known for its theatres, cafés, and luxury shops, for the annual Bastille Day military parade, and as the finish of the Tour de France cycle race. The name is French for the Elysian Fields, the paradise for dead heroes in Greek mythology. One of the most famous streets in the world, some French proudly call this world-famous boulevard “la plus belle avenue du monde” (“the world’s most beautiful avenue”), mainly as a gimmick in TV news.
It was completed in 1670.
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