French police shoot Syrian man painting swastikas at train station (VIDEOS)
French police shot and seriously wounded a man who pointed a fake gun at officers after being caught spray-painting swastikas at a Paris train station, local media reported on Monday. A bystander was also injured in the incident, which occurred at the Austerlitz station in the French capital.
According to reports citing the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, police approached the man after receiving complaints that he was vandalizing the walls inside the station. When asked to stop, the man reached into his jacket and brandished a gun, the Prosecutor’s Office said, citing video surveillance footage. The railway officers responded by firing “several” bullets at the man, hitting him in the abdomen.
The suspect, said to be a 49-year-old of Syrian descent, was taken to the hospital in a critical condition. He was declared “brain dead” around 7pm local time, Le Parisien reported, citing the authorities. No further information about the man has so far been made public.
Un agent de la sûreté tir sur un homme avec une arme factice à Austerlitz, (perso je n’ai pas vue de croix gammé) #austerlitzpic.twitter.com/K2qWQyseU2
— T.P (@PTayLoz) February 3, 2025
One of the bullets fired by the railway officers ricocheted, hitting a taxi driver who was inside the station. He was injured in the foot and taken to the hospital, although his condition is stable.
🔴 Deux blessés par balles gare d'Austerlitz à Paris : des agents de la sûreté ferroviaire ont ouvert le feu sur un homme armé qui venait de taguer une croix gammée. #JT20hpic.twitter.com/xbIeCyuPd7
— Le20h-France Télévisions (@le20hfrancetele) February 3, 2025
The man’s gun was later found to be fake, although the Prosecutor’s Office said this was unknown to officers when they shot him. Two investigations have been launched into the incident, one of which will probe the officers’ actions while the other will investigate the actions of the suspect.
🚨 ALERTE INFO - L’individu qui a été blessé par balles par la sûreté ferroviaire alors qu’il taguait des croix gammées dans la Gare d’Austerlitz est en ÉTAT DE MORT CÉRÉBRALE. L’individu était équipé d’une arme factice. (BFMTV) pic.twitter.com/7zFVFQDQOn
— Focus (@FocusFR_) February 3, 2025
The Austerlitz station was closed to the public for several hours after the incident, and train traffic was disrupted while police and counter-terrorist Vigipirate officers worked at the scene.
France has been on a maximum terrorism alert since last year. Olivier Christen, the French national antiterrorism prosecutor, said in December that his department had launched over 600 investigations into suspected terror plots in 2024, nearly double the number for 2023, and had thwarted nine planned attacks.
