A man carrying a knife has taken multiple people hostage inside a pizza restaurant in Paris with dozens of police cars and ambulances at the scene with the area in lockdown
A knife-wielding man has taken multiple people hostage inside a pizza restaurant in Paris.
Dozens of police cars and ambulances are currently at the scene and authorities have locked down the street The man is said to be holding the employees of Pizza L’Olivier restaurant in Issy-les-Moulineaux hostage.
Police sources have reportedly said that at least four people have been taken hostage. “He is retaining three or four employees, but there are no “customers or public”, the source said, according to Le Parisien.
The French news outlet claims the man armed with a knife and may have a relation to the shop’s owners. It’s believe he locked himself in this restaurant a few dozen meters from the Paris ring road, southwest of the capital, just before 1 p.m. Two detonations were heard on site, followed by numerous sirens a little before 4 p.m.
The man is described as being around 40 years old and allegedly known to the local police force. Armed police have been pictured at the tense scene, which also includes several emergency vehicles and cordons, with the knifeman believe to be a violent drug addict, Le Parisien reports.
The motive of the attacker is unclear as of now. A press release from the restaurant’s management said: “A hostage situation is currently taking place in our restaurant in Issy-les-Moulineaux. Four people are being held inside by a man who is expressing suicidal thoughts (…). We would like to inform you that there are no customers among the hostages, only employees.”
