Three police officers were killed and a fourth wounded in central France on Wednesday by a gunman they confronted in response to a domestic violence call, officials said.
The suspect, a 48-year-old man known to authorities for child custody disputes, was “discovered dead” several hours after fleeing the home in an isolated hamlet near Saint-Just, a village south of the city of Clermont-Ferrand, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a tweet.
He gave no further details on how the man died.
“Our security forces put their lives at risk to protect us. These are our heroes,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet.
The man opened fire at two officers who arrived at the house shortly after midnight after being alerted to a reported domestic assault.
One was killed immediately and the other shot in the thigh before the man set fire to the house, where a woman had climbed onto the roof.
Two further officers, responding to the scene, were then fired on and killed, according to the prosecutor’s office in Clermont-Ferrand.
Police reinforcements and firefighters were rushed to the scene, and all roads leading to the house were blocked off.
The woman was safely rescued, and was being questioned by police.
{{/usCountry}}The woman was safely rescued, and was being questioned by police.
{{/usCountry}}The victims were aged 21, 37 and 45, the interior ministry said.
Aside from terror attacks, shootings of police officers in France are relatively rare.
Last May, a man fired at police from his house in the Gironde region of southwest France, wounding one officer. As he was about to fire again, he was shot dead by police.