DEVELOPING: One police officer was killed and another was wounded when a gunman opened fire late Thursday on the famed Champs-Elysees shopping district in Paris, officials said.
Live on the scene in Paris, France after one police officer was killed and another wounded in a shooting on the Champs Elysees. http://fxn.ws/2p0aTGq
Posted by Fox News on Thursday, April 20, 2017
Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press that the attacker targeted police guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station at the center of the avenue popular with tourists.
Authorities warned people in the heart of the French capital to avoid the area after the shooting, France 24 reported.
Many police vehicles can be seen on the avenue that passes many of the city’s most iconic landmarks.
A witness identified only as Ines told French television station BFM that she heard a shooting, saw a man’s body on the ground and the area was quickly evacuated by police.
The attack came three days before the first round of balloting in France’s tense presidential election.
Security is high preceding the vote after police said they arrested two men Tuesday in what they described as a thwarted terror attack.
France has been in a state of emergency following a series of terrorist attacks, including the the November 2015 attacks, which targeted the Bataclan concert hall and Stade de France sports arena in Paris and the deadly truck attack in Nice on Bastille Day in July 2016.
The state of emergency has been extended by several parliamentary votes and remains in effect.