Knife Attacker With Terror Conviction Shot Dead by Paris Police at Arc de Triomphe

A man wielding a knife and scissors attacked a French police officer during the nightly ceremony to rekindle the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Friday evening, prompting another officer to open fire . The suspect was shot multiple times and later died at hospital from his injuries, according to the French counterterrorism prosecutor's office .

The attack struck at one of France's most symbolically charged sites. Every evening since 1923, veterans' associations have gathered beneath the Napoleon-era arch on the Champs-Elysees to relight the flame honoring soldiers who died unidentified in the First World War. The assailant targeted an officer securing that ceremony, lunging at him with a blade before a colleague intervened with lethal force .

No bystanders or police officers were injured in the incident, Paris police said . The Champs-Elysees remained open to traffic, though the monument itself was sealed off and the nearby Charles de Gaulle-Etoile metro station was closed at police request .

The French national counterterrorism prosecutor's office moved swiftly, opening a formal investigation even before the suspect's death was confirmed . The counterterrorism office said it was taking charge of the case and had opened an inquiry into the incident . The speed of that designation drew attention: French authorities typically reserve such a step for cases with clear ideological indicators.

Investigators quickly established that the assailant was a French national born in 1978 who was registered as a resident of the northern Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis and was known to authorities . He had been sentenced to 17 years in prison by a court in Brussels in 2013 for attempted murders of three police officers in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek . The Molenbeek district later gained international notoriety as a base for several perpetrators of the November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 Brussels bombings.

First incarcerated in Belgium, the man was transferred to a French prison in 2015 to serve the remainder of his sentence . He was released on December 24, 2025 — less than two months before Friday's attack — and had since been subject to judicial supervision and surveillance measures .

The timeline raises uncomfortable questions for French security agencies. Critics of the country's post-incarceration monitoring regime have long warned that released terror convicts pose an acute risk, particularly in the months immediately following their return to society. France's intelligence services track hundreds of individuals flagged for radicalization, but surveillance resources are finite and the challenge of preventing lone-actor attacks remains one of the most difficult problems in counterterrorism.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez expressed support for the officer who intervened, describing the response as composed and determined in the face of the threat . President Emmanuel Macron did not immediately comment publicly on the incident.

The attack comes against the backdrop of a broader European debate over how to handle returning jihadists and released terror convicts. Several EU member states have tightened post-release supervision regimes in recent years, but the French system — which relies on a combination of judicial control orders, electronic monitoring, and intelligence surveillance — has faced criticism for gaps in coverage.

Security experts noted that the choice of target was likely deliberate. The Arc de Triomphe and its flame ceremony carry enormous symbolic weight in the French national consciousness, and an attack during the ritual itself sends a message beyond the immediate violence. Similar symbolic targeting has characterized previous terror incidents in France, from the 2015 Bataclan massacre during a concert to the 2016 Nice truck attack on Bastille Day crowds.

The suspect's identity has not been publicly released by authorities. Police have not yet released details of the suspect's identity or possible motive , though the investigation is ongoing. Forensic teams were working at the scene late into Friday night, and the monument was expected to reopen to the public on Saturday.

The incident is the first major knife attack in central Paris since the October 2023 stabbing near the Eiffel Tower that killed a German tourist. It will inevitably intensify debate over France's counterterrorism strategy, the adequacy of post-release monitoring, and the broader challenge of lone-actor violence in European capitals.