PARIS (AP) — French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar suspected of setting fire to a synagogue in Rouen, Normandy, early Friday, authorities said.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin posted on social media site X that the armed individual had been “neutralized.”
“In Rouen, national police neutralized an armed individual who attempted to set fire to a synagogue in the city early this morning. I congratulate them for their response and courage,” he said.
Police said they responded to reports of smoke coming from the synagogue early Friday morning and encountered the man when they arrived there. A police intelligence source said the man lunged at police holding a knife and an iron bar. Police said an officer opened fire, fatally wounding the man.
Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said the man is believed to have climbed on top of a bin and thrown “some kind of Molotov cocktail” inside the synagogue, starting a fire and causing “significant damage.”
“An attack on the Jewish community is an attack on the national community, an attack on France and an attack on all French citizens,” he said.
“This is a horror story for the entire nation,” he added.
The Israel-Hamas war has heightened tensions and anger in France. Anti-Semitic acts have soared in the country with the largest Jewish and Muslim population in Western Europe.