20/04/2017 Outside Source

motive unclear at the moment as are the sequence of events confusing.

Coverage of this unfolding story continues here on BBC News. We have

a developing story in Paris where there has been a shooting on the

Champs Elysees. This is from a French news agency

stating that one police officer has been killed and over the wounded by

the shooting in the Champs-Elysees, and we are told by the French

interior ministry that an attacker has been killed. Next I can show you

live pictures coming into the BBC newsroom. You get an idea of the

operation underway in the city. Let's bring in Christian Fraser from

the BBC who is in Paris. What have you heard? Funnily enough Ros I

started broadcasting with the one hour ago, I saw the police and I

knew something was wrong, I did not know where it was but I know there

was a commotion. We are broadcasting here, that is Etoile behind us, the

traffic is being redirected away from the Champs-Elysees, it's being

directed towards Concord and the street is empty, they have pulled

back the cordon towards Etoile and the helicopter is basically making a

grand circle around the Champs-Elysees. It is going back

down towards us. Police cars are still moving around, just after we

had spoken to you clearly the message had gone out on the radio

that one officer had been shot and they were coming from all

directions. It was bedlam. There was one unmarked police car that came

tearing up the Grande Armee desperate to get to the

Champs-Elysees because they did not know what had happened. The street

was full of people as it is on beautiful nights like this, people

walking up and down a very busy street, maybe we passed some of the

people who came under attack, there is a visible presence of armed

police on the Champs-Elysees as always. Before we keep talking,

Christian, let me bring in further developments. The Reuters news

agency say that three police sources say the shooting in Paris could have

been an attempt at an armed robbery. Writers have also put out a tweet

from a police source saying it is probably a terrorist attack. Which

highlights the fact that we don't know who's responsible, we don't

know what has happened yet. And as ever with these situations you have

to be careful about what conclusions jump to. The city is on a high state

of alert. We are three days from a general election and there are

plenty of people in France who would like to disrupt it, so serious is it

that the police are bringing in private security guards to help man

some polling stations. We are still in a state of emergency in France,

it has been extended and they will be on the highest state of alert

particularly after what has gone on. You are right to put caution on it.

It is a busy street, lots of jewellers shops on that street, it

could easily have been an armed robbery as well as it could have

been a terror attack. Stay with us peace. We will highlight where the

attack took place. If we go in closely you can see the

Champs-Elysees is marked. I can see one eyewitnesses quoted as saying

that a man got out of a car and began shooting with a Kalashnikov.

The BBC can't confirm that at the moment. Let's bring up the

newswires, which are coming through. Apparently one shot was fired as the

car stopped at a red light. All the latest news reports coming in. Let's

listen to a police warning to people on the Champs-Elysees. You have to

stay back. Please stay back. Ladies and gentlemen, stay back, please. I

mean, look exactly where this attack will have taken place. This is the

Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous roads, not just in France, in

the world. We are still getting more details on precisely where the

attack happened. Let's speak to James Reynolds who is monitoring

this story from the BBC newsroom in Paris. What information do you have,

James? We are keeping an eye on the French channels. They suggest

something similar to what you have said, there was a car, in which

there was an attacker, these initial reports say he got out and fired

towards the police. There are other questions to be answered, were the

others in the car, what's happened to that car, with the police

targeted, remember there are lots of police on the Champs-Elysees. Our

colleague Christian Fraser has brought these pictures. I was on a

side street possibly moments after the shooting happened, my colleagues

and I were simply walking towards the Champs-Elysees, we saw a small

group of people running towards us, we from the Champs-Elysees, looking

panicked, one woman said that had been a man with a gun, we could not

get much more information from her. And then we saw the police taking

control of the small side road from the Champs-Elysees ordering people

to stay inside. This evening all the main residential candidates, all 11

of them are taking part in a big television event. If that's

continuing? Have they commented on this? They have been commenting on

Twitter. I haven't followed the progress of the debate, I did manage

to watch the first three or four segments including one where Marine

Le Pen talked about the issue of what she called terrorism. Clearly

this news has dominated and the candidates have wanted to express

themselves and get their points of view out on Twitter. If you are just

tuning in, that has been a shooting on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. We

don't know the circumstances, we don't know the motivation. We have

had contradictory claims on that. We are best not going down the road of

speculation. What we do know is that it has happened on the

Champs-Elysees. Confirmation from the French interior ministry, they

say that police officers were deliberately targeted. Let me bring

up another piece of information, police sources say that two

attackers were involved and one was killed. I was just speaking to my

colleague about that important TV debate in France, we have heard that

has been suspended. Each presidential candidate was going to

be quizzed in front of a sizeable audience across the country but that

will not be continuing as normal because of what is happening in

Paris. The police, as often happens in these emergency situations, are

using social media to communicate, one tweet recommends that you avoid

the area of the Champs-Elysees and as James and Christian have

explained they had to move, because of the police coming in again,

police intervention under Way, avoid the sector, follow the instructions

of the police forces. Let's speak to Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, a

journalist who often joins us here. You don't live far away, what have

you heard? I heard it on my computer before I looked outside but I was

wondering why helicopters were in the sky because they are flying over

Paris and normally that's forbidden. I live at the corner of two streets,

one block off the Champs-Elysees, and I could see police cars in my

street, and it was very obvious that it was to get on the street to go to

the Champs-Elysees, so the whole thing was being cordoned off. And

then of course I got the news by television and Twitter. And they

talked about and attack, announced by the interior minister who said

that there had been a deliberate attack against a French police

officer and that the assailants were both dead. What I did not know, and

had only recently, is that one of the policeman is also dead. This

happened in a segment of the Champs-Elysees we have many

shoppers, many tourists, many restaurants, and that would have

been a place where at any time of the evening, especially the early

evening, you would have close to 100,000 people between the top on

the bottom of the street so potentially a place where you could

have a disaster. I was going to ask you, even at this time of the

evening it would be a busy place. Hugely busy. It's the time when it

is most busy in the day. Early evening, people are about to go and

see movies at the second show or they are just coming out of movies

and there are lots of restaurants and many shops and open in the

evening. That would be more of an incentive. If you think of something

that would be a combination of Leicester Square and Oxford Street

in London, that is what it is. Anne-Elisabeth, can you give us an

idea of the scale of the operation that is underway at the moment? The

incident itself didn't involve many people but now you've got police and

Stanley Avenue, police in the side street and helicopters overhead. --

you've got police along the Avenue. Every president, every mayor in

Paris is aware that everyone in world knows about this Avenue so it

is the place that is the most protected, it has Brazilians and

people from outside the city and tourists, and weekends you have one

third of a million people there every day. And you have the Ely is a

palace which is just behind a row of trees just up the bottom of the

Avenue, so that's many reasons for the place to be protected.

Anne-Elisabeth, thank you very much, for the moment. We appreciate your

help in covering this story. A couple of other things to share with

you. A French Interior Ministry spokesperson said that the motives

for the shooting are unknown. Bear in mind that message from the French

interior ministry when I show you this wire that has come in from

Reuters, President Trump has offered his condolences after the killing of

a police officer, saying it looks like another terrorist act. Let's

bring in Christian Fraser of the BBC in the Champs-Elysees. Just to

reiterate, we don't know how to describe this at the moment, do we?

No, we don't. I did see mobile phone footage from the Champs-Elysees,

somebody running this we showed me and he showed me shots on the mobile

phone because he had recorded them, I could not hear the sound because

of the traffic that people were running in all directions, and as

Anne-Elisabeth has just described, the police were on the scene very

quickly. I can see just at the top of the Champs-Elysees armed police

on both sides of the road. Hotels are just down that side of the

Champs-Elysees is presumably people are being kept indoors. They are

still making sure that there is no one out there. We see the helicopter

going round the Champs-Elysees, just moments ago they turned the

floodlight on the helicopter and they were pointing it down onto an

area to the right-hand side of the Champs around the area of the George

V Metro station. Police down the side streets, not all the side

streets but keeping a wary eye on what is going on in this part of

town. It is much quieter than it would normally be. It would be quite

busy in this area, eight o'clock local time, and now you can only see

a smattering of traffic which is normally very busy at this time is

right. Please stay with us. Some other elements, CBS News has quoted

President Trump saying this looks like another terrorist attack but

we've had no confirmation from the authorities that it is.

A counterterrorism office has opened an investigation but it is an

investigation and no more, this is particularly relevant to those of

you watching on the BBC News Channel, the British Embassy is in

contact with local authorities and is seeking further information

following the reports of this shooting incident in Paris.

Christian, to come back to you, can you give us an idea for the viewers

who are not watching about an hour ago of the sudden influx of

emergency vehicles? It was very quick. We work broadcasting at about

ten to eight. Suddenly from all directions police cars were coming

towards us, unmarked police cars as well. The most dramatic moment at

the foot of where we are broadcasting is that there's a sort

of traffic light and a pedestrian crossing and a pedestrian almost got

hit by a policeman who was driving as quickly as he could to get to the

scene. Clearly a message had gone out on the radio that they needed to

respond, we have seen the helicopter overhead for about the past hour,

and very quickly as well. And also at the underpass. It is an area that

people use to get to the other side of the Champs-Elysees. The policeman

I spoke to, I said, what is going on and he didn't want to talk at all,

you was very jumpy so obviously he knew something serious had happened

to one of his colleagues. We were talking about terrorism as we would

do in the context of like this. We were whether former Europe minister

tonight. He came to do an interview with us for 100 Days. I knew his

background, he was on the intelligence committee that wrote

the intelligence legislation and I asked if he thought it might affect

things this weekend. He said it certainly in the minds of some

voters the terror threat is there and it might encourage some people

to vote from Marine Le Pen but in the context of our question I am

always intrigued about how severe the terror threat is. He said that

from what he had seen there was something like 15,000 people in

France that the security services need to watch. Not saying that they

all severe threats but 15,000 people at any one time that have to be

watched. And he said, whatever happens the other side of this

election we need to step up our security and resources we have of

the intelligence agencies so that they can keep track of these people.

Christian, thank you, we will come back to you within the hour on

Outside Source. If you are just joining us, there has been a

shooting on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, one police officer has been

killed, we don't know the motivation behind this incident. The reaction

from Marine Le Pen, leader of the National front in France, one of the

four main candidates to be the next president, she says in motion and

solidarity for our security forces, again being targeted. In the most

famous road in Paris, the Champs-Elysees, there is the Arc de

Triomphe which we saw just behind Christian as he was talking to us,

it runs away from that. The newswires are giving updates all the

time on this story. APR says one police officer has been killed and

another injured, and one attacker has been shot dead, according to the

police. This is really important. The French interior minister says it

is too early to say what the motive is for this attack. We are busy

working on this story in the BBC newsroom in London, James Reynolds

is in Paris, what else can you tell us, James? To recap what you have

just said, Ros. Metro stations along the Champs-Elysees have been closed,

entirely understandable, given the police presence on the

Champs-Elysees. Like Christian Fraser we have heard the police

helicopters overhead. We know that the police are in control of the

roads next to the Champs-Elysees and to reiterate what Christian said,

this still feels like a live operation. They need to identify who

the attacker was. Was he known to the police, was involved in other

activities? Were there any accomplices, this activity will have

to go quickly before they can reassure people that this live

operation is over. Would it have been normal for police officers to

be on the Champs-Elysees on a regular evening? On some regular

evenings, yes, given the context of the last few years, if you go down

the Champs-Elysees at any point in the last few years you might well

have seen police officers and possibly soldiers as well, this

morning I saw police officers blocking one particular pathway down

from the Arc de Triomphe. I have seen soldiers in camouflage on one

side St today. You see them so often that you barely notice them any

more. As I was out early in the evening and seen people running

away, already in the distance I saw what looked like two sirens, just

reiterating what Christian Fraser said, although he was in a different

location, the police were on the scene quickly because they had been

deployed along the Champs-Elysees in case anything like this happened.

James, I want to bring up one newswire that has come into the BBC

Newsline. Reuters is quoting a police source saying the gunman

killed in the shooting was known to the security services. We have no

more information on that but it is interesting, as the different

politicians respond to this even before we know what has happened, it

is becoming inevitably politicised. It is in the first few minutes when

we were still not sure what was happening.

As far as we can say, the politicians believe this was a

terrorist attack. We need to be cautious and work out what the

motivation is. I think it might be significant, especially of the

police knew who this person was. The police have had a lot of people in

France under surveillance for different reasons. They did know who

this person was they might have been able to identify the motivations and

importantly for French people, whether that person was connected to

a wider network of people. I just want to show a couple of stills that

have come into the BBC newsroom. This gives an idea of the operation

taking place on the Champs-Elysees. We cannot emphasise this enough. It

is too early to identify a motive in the Paris attack, although if we go

back to the newswires, Donald Trump has been offering his condolences,

after the killing of a police officer, saying that it looks like

another terrorist attack. We have a clip of President Trump responding

to this which I can play you now. Our condolences from this country to

the people of France, again it has happened, I saw it as I was walking

in. It is a terrible thing, a very very terrible thing going on in the

world today but it looks like another terrorist attack and what

can you say? It just never ends. We have to be strong and we have to be

vigilant and I have been saying and for a long time. Back to James

Reynolds in Paris. Just for people joining us are we certain that one

police officer has lost their life? Off that is what the authorities say

at this stage. In terms of what the authorities are saying, this is what

they are broadcasting to the media, to the people in France. The picture

that is being painted by the French interior ministry spokesperson is

that there was a shooting near the Champs-Elysees, targeting lease

officers, that needs to be confirmed, one officer was killed,

we understand from broad reports broadcast on French TV that the

attacker was killed. Recent reports suggest that the attacker was known

at the police. That could be very significant in helping police

analyse the motivation and the network, if any, of the attacker.

James, for the moment, thank you. We will come back to you in the next

few minutes on Outside Source. That has been political reaction to what

has happened in Paris, the Socialist candidate says, my thoughts are with

the family of the policeman, Benoit Hamon using the word terrorism.

Marine Le Pen saying, emotion and solidarity for our security forces

again targeted. Back to Christian Fraser. Some newswires say there

have been further gunshots. What more can you tell us? More shots

have been fired near the Champs-Elysees, see news reports,

although we have not heard them here. Francois Hollande has been in

the presidential headquarters, wanting to call his senior ministers

to talk about what has happened. The French newspaper Anne-Elisabeth

Moutet says the attacker stopped near the Champs-Elysees, got out,

shot at the police officers and was shot as he ran away. As James said

we still get the sense, watching the helicopter and the activity around

the area at the moment that there still is a live police operation

under way. I am not sure that they are certain that there isn't someone

else they are looking for. If those reports are true, and do bear in

mind that people are pretty jumpy up the moment, so any loud noises

people might well jump to conclusions about, but according to

Reuters there have been other shots fired near the Champs-Elysees. And

sifting through the information coming in. It's difficult to work

out if we are talking about one person acting alone or two or three

people. What have you heard? Only what you are hearing at the moment,

which is that one police officer may have lost his life and another may

have been injured. One of the attackers may have been killed. Let

me show you something that we witnessed when we were standing here

broadcasting with you a little earlier. Can you see this on the

computer? This was a bus parked on the other side of Etoile. It was

going around the roundabout and suddenly the police cars surrounded

the bus and stopped it. I don't know what they thought was on it, there

were plenty of buses around but this one they had a particular focus on.

They pulled everyone who was on the bus off. They had their body armour

on, they were armed police, heavily armed police surrounding it, and it

was therefore probably about half an hour to one hour before the bus

moved off. Does that tell us that they were looking for someone else?

I don't know because they had shot the attacker on the Champs-Elysees

according to the reports we've heard but if they stopped this bus is

possible they thought that someone else was on the run and maybe that

person had got onto a bus at the top of the Champs-Elysees and was trying

to get away from the scene, it was interesting that they picked on that

particular bus. Thank you, Christian. There has been a shooting

on the Champs-Elysees in the centre of Paris. These are live pictures.

The Reuters news agency says shots have been fired at a new location

near the Champs-Elysees. That's according to a police source. The

police have said that one police officer has lost their life and

another has been injured. The French interior ministry has emphasised

explicitly that they do not know the motivation behind what happened on

the Champs-Elysees. Just to highlight to those of you watching,

many of you will know this very famous avenue, right in the centre

of Paris with the Arc de Triomphe at one end of it. Let's speak to

Christian Fraser again. We talked about the political context of this,

the other context is the fact that Paris has experienced many traumas

involving attacks in the last 18 months. I think it has an

accumulative effect on the population in Paris especially on a

night like this. It was interesting as an observer to watch how people

reacted to what was going on. As soon as police started going in one

direction, we saw a group of youngsters who had come to look at

the eternal flame and they were told to clear Etoile as quickly as they

could and immediately they panicked. Maybe the rumour of gunshots had

gone around, but they started running everywhere and it was

difficult for the police to control them and keep everyone calm.

Everyone jumps to the same conclusion because they have bitter

experience of previous attacks. It is not only the Charlie Hebdo attack

and the Bataclan attack which were horrendous, but peppered through

those months there have been countless attacks on the police. And

according to the French media wires that I can see, they claimed the

police were specifically targeted in this attack. We've seen policemen

before stabbed from behind, in La Defense, while protecting the

public, they are conscious that they are targets for someone who might

come up behind them and they don't expect it to try to hurt one of them

and kill one of them. It sounds as if it might have been the case

tonight. Christian, thank you. For those viewers just joining us, let's

remind ourselves of what is happening. There's been a shooting

in the Champs-Elysees in the centre of Paris, one police officer has

lost his or her life, the authorities say another has been

wounded. There are other elements to the story which we can bring you.

Some of which are confirmed, others not. This is the Reuters news agency

picking up on what Christian said. There are reports that shots had

been fired at a new location near the Champs-Elysees, according to one

police source speaking to Reuters. Know the political reaction as well.

Remember it is round one of the French presidential election on

Sunday. His use of the word terrorism is

significant because over the last hour, the French Interior Ministry

has emphasised we do not know the nature of this attack. I want to

bring up a couple of other newswires coming into the BBC newsroom.

Reuters quoting a police source, say a second policeman has died from

wounds of the Paris shootings. We knew that one person had lost their

life. According to Reuters, we do not have this confirmed, but they

had been correct on all the other elements of the story so far,

reporting a second policeman has lost their life. The nearby stations

to the Paris Metro had been closed and we can bring in the BBC's

Christian Fraser again. In terms of what is happening in and around...

Hi, Christian. I am just watching the helicopter. Apart from the

Champs-Elysees itself, are people able to move around within the area

quite easily? Yes, but there are not a lot of people. A public

announcement has gone out, urging people to stay away from the

Champs-Elysees. That seems to have been led by people in this area.

There are very few people on the pavements at the moment. The people

are being directed from other areas, directed away from the

Champs-Elysees. I can still see, down the Champs-Elysees, there are

armed police in prominent positions up and down the Champs-Elysees, near

some of the restaurants and hotels. What I do not know is whether people

have been allowed to leave restaurants or whether they had been

kept in place until they are absolutely sure there is no one

still out there. But still a lot of police activity going on. You can

probably see some of the flashing blue lights. They moved from the

underpass, they have left the scene at the moment, maybe they had been

moved forward onto the Champs-Elysees, but generally it is

reasonably quiet and secure now. The helicopter appears to have moved to

a different part of the city, it is not circulating around the

Champs-Elysees for the moment. All the while we are talking, more

information is coming in. Let's bring more of that for you.

According to a police source talking to Reuters, police are searching the

home of the person who carried out the attack on the Champs-Elysees. We

have also seen wire copy coming in that the authorities are saying this

person was known the authorities. This is also relevant, this from

Reuters will stop the counterterrorism office open an

investigation into the shooting, one of the gunmen was killed in the

attack was known to the security forces. That phrase, one of the

gunmen, is interesting because there is a huge amount of uncertainty

around whether this attack was carried out by one person or more.

Some reports have said one, other have said more. They cannot be

certain at all at the moment. If you are just joining us, many of you

watching will have been to Paris, and you will certainly have been to

the Champs-Elysees. We have the Arc de Triomphe and the road comes away

from that to the east. It is one of the most famous roads and do world.

One journalist who lived closest to the Champs-Elysees, they said even

in the evening this would've been incredibly busy. Let's update you on

a couple of other elements to the story. We have heard Francois Fillon

paying tribute to the security forces. As we were discussing, even

though we do not know the very nature of this attack, already it is

becoming politicised the different candidates for the presidency

offering their condolences and, in some cases, their thoughts about

what has happened. Let's bring in a security expert. Thank you for your

time. With a story and situation unfolding like this, what will be

the priorities of the security forces on the Champs-Elysees? One of

the key issues will be to try to control information that will be

circulating around, and it will be to try to gather as much evidence as

they possibly can, again in peace times when most of us will have some

kind of camera within our phones. They will try to get as much

evidence as they can, particularly as reports are led to believe. One

of the gunmen potentially is on the run. In terms of communication with

the concerned public, presumably that has to remain a priority, even

though the police may not know exactly what is happening? No,

absolutely. They're in mind what a cosmopolitan city Paris is, much

like London when we had the Westminster attack recently, there

will try to get the that not only to the local residents, but also all

foreign visitors. The Champs-Elysees is such a representative sight of

Paris, and this is the ideal target particularly by some terrorist

affiliated groups because it is the capital and internationally

recognised. Police will control this local area as much as possible,

particularly as there may be other strands to this. One cannot presume

there isn't these days. They will control people indoors and the local

areas and then ultimately making sure other people do not come into

this catchment area. Stay with us. Earlier, I mentioned that we had

potential reports of another shooting close to the

Champs-Elysees. Paris police have confirmed to the BBC that that

reporter for the gunfire was a force report. People were claiming there

were further gunshots. Since we have contacted the resume police who have

said that was a force report. Will, it highlights the amount of

disinformation and in misinformation the authorities are sifting through.

Absolutely. One only has to look at Twitter a look at the various

reports coming in from different sources. Even the BBC will resort to

Twitter to try to gather as much information as they can. News

agencies like yourself has a bigger job as the police do, sifting

through information, following up on reports, and it is not uncommon that

we will hear of simultaneous attacks or other reports of attacks within

proximity or possibly close by, and again this could be from a variety

of different elements, it could be from individuals who heard the

initial attacks, and particularly in a city where sound can travel

extensively, it can be leading to greater levels of concern. This is

why the authorities will need to come up with a formal statement

pretty quickly to again reassure the general public that they have

control of the situation. One further question, we all being told

this attack was known to the authorities. In those circumstances

presumably they are able to move much faster in investigating.

Absolutely. The French had been playing catch-up game since some of

the earlier attacks, particularly Charlie Hebdo, which was a wake-up

call for them. But because quite a few of the notable attacks in the

last year or so have come from a variety of different areas, the

concern right now is that ultimately, they need to have

immediate triggers of any particular names to ensure that if they do

recognise is a perpetrator's name, they can follow that lead very

quickly. We appreciate your time, thank you very much for joining us.

In the last few minutes, I have brought you there is political

reactions. The far left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon saying, my

thoughts to the police and their families. Jean-Luc Melenchon

describing this as a terrorist act while the authorities are saying

they did not know the motivation. Let me check again, the news wires

coming in here. President Armand is holding a crisis meeting with the

Prime Minister and interior Minister as you would expect with a situation

like this unfolding. Here is what one eyewitness had to say. We were

moving towards a car and then I heard two or three shots but I did

not realise they were shots to start with. Then there was panic all

around, everyone started running down the Champs-Elysees by instinct.

I did not stop to work out what was going on, I just ran. Police were

already in place, blocking the road with the trucks, I took shelter

behind them. I did not have time to do anything other than just run

away. The French Interior Ministry... It is saying they are

assessing the vehicle of the assailant with regards to the attack

on the Champs-Elysees. It can also show you some of the Stills coming

in of the police operation underway. Particularly because of what has

happened in Paris over the last couple of years, the response to

this incident has been considerable, as you would expect. Let's bring

back Ken James in Paris. Please bring us date with what you have

got. I want to repeat a report on the Reuters news agency, suggesting

police are carrying out a search at the attacker's home east of Paris.

In the last 30 or 40 minutes, we have brought you those reports,

suggesting they knew who the suspected attacker was. Those

reports have developed and suggest the police are carrying out a search

of the person's house. It is important because they will want to

work at exactly who he was, why he might have carried out this attack

and whether or not he was working with any others. In that last

question is critical, as the police try to work out if it is over or if

there are other people they need to go look for. We had this interesting

situation with the police are saying, we did not know what is

behind this attack, the already very high profile politicians are calling

it an act of terrorism. Yes, and you can almost imagine politicians

thinking there is no harm in condemning terrorism as soon as they

hear of an attack on the police, it does them no harm even if it turns

out the attack had other motives. Very early on after we had the

report, there was one initial report from the police suggesting it was a

terrorist attack. There are suggestions it might possibly be a

robbery. We have not seen anything further than that because at the

moment, there are reports that the man was known to the police only.

Let me bring you another few updates. The Prime Minister has

taken to Twitter to pay tribute to the policeman killed in the attack

tonight, falls to his family and solidarity with the injured

colleagues and relatives. To reiterate to you, we have heard from

Donald Trump as well, who was offered his condolences to the

people of France after the killing of the police officer in Paris,

saying it looks like another terrorist act. Donald Trump has been

meeting the leader of Italy. We were expecting to be covering the joint

press conference but that's not happened for obvious reasons, but

Donald Trump is offering his condolences to the people of France

because of a terrorist act let's bring in James again. We talked

earlier that the authorities had said one person had died, Voigt is

then carried a report saying a second police officer had died, are

we able to confirm that yet? I am reading something I have seen on

social media. Second police officer has succumbed to his wounds. Those

reports coming from various police federations, saying there is a

second police officer who has been killed. We have not yet heard that

from the government, the Interior Ministry, and as French people know

all too well, it is the Interior Ministry to whom they have to turn

the term for updates on nights or days like this. Tell us about the

Champs-Elysees. If anyone wants to drive up it, can the? They can.

Earlier today, when I was coming in from the airport, it was very

difficult to get down from the Arc de Triomphe. We had to use side

roads because the police had blocked off one Particular Rd heading down

from the Arc de Triomphe which caused a lot of traffic jams. It

would not have been easy to get down from one side to another but later

on, I saw traffic going in both directions and I did not notice...

It would been unheard of to have checkpoints on either side of the

Champs-Elysees. If there was an attacker who wanted to drive along

the Champs-Elysees and then find police officers on either side of

the road, that would've been doable. In terms of how many people carried

this attack out, one person was involved, do we have any indication

as to whether they acted alone or with help? We do not we will

remember what you were speaking to Christian about, when he was talking

about the police surrounding a bus. That gives you an indication of the

instinct the police will have on the minutes after an attack, where they

will not just think this person was alone, they will look anyone in the

area and try to identify the person and find out who his network of

people, supporters, may have been. We do not have any indication do at

this stage whether or not the attacker was driving with anyone

else or whether he was alone. James, for the moment, thank you very much

for your help again. I'm live in London, where a story has been

developing over the last 90 minutes or so. Let me reiterate where we

have got to. There has been a shooting on the Champs-Elysees in

Paris, the city's most famous street and arguably France's. One police

officer has lost his life. We did have a statement from a police union

and there is a separate police source saying a second police

officer has lost his life but we're not able to confirm that at the

moment. High-profile politicians and France have referred to this as an

act of terrorism, however the French interior minister is saying, we do

not know the motivation behind this attack. There is one person involved

that they have been reports of extra people being involved. However,

quite often in developing stories like this, you get reports of extra

people being involved and it does not prove to be the case, so we

cannot confirm if anyone was involved beyond that single

attacker. If we go in closer, we can see the Arctic Triomphe where we

were talking to Christian Fraser, and the attack took place in the

Champs-Elysees to the east. Throughout the hour, more

information has been coming through. We have plugged back into the BBC

newsroom to access all the latest information. All the stations nearby

to wear this attack is taken place have been closed. Police are also

warning people not to spread any misinformation that has not come

from a trusted source save the authorities. Also, the

counterterrorism officers have offered an investigation into the

shooting. You will notice this wire from Reuters talks about gunmen,

we're not sure whether it was a gunman or gunmen, but one person has

been killed. According to a police source, speaking to the authorities.

A couple of other things to mention here. Donald Trump has come out and

offered his condolences to France over what has happened, saying, it

looks like another terrorist attack. James has been helping us from the

newsroom of the BBC in Paris. Christian was just by the

Champs-Elysees. We spoke to him on Outside Source when it was not clear

when this story was developing, but we are clear now it has happened. Is

is still ongoing? Do we know if this is a live situation? There are a lot

of conflicting reports so I do not want to put information at the that

might not stand up but there are reports quoting police sources that

there is another attack of are looking for. I have just seen

footage sent to me by people who are in Paris of what looks to be the

immediate aftermath of the shooting, and you can see the police van in

the car that was pulled up right alongside it, and what you picture

in the image is a police man putting his gun down on the pavement as if

they just just killed the attacker had just literally come upon them.

We are also hearing from various news reports, unconfirmed, two

policeman had been killed but they are also saying the third one had

been injured. Maybe there were three is part of a small group. But it is

halfway down the Champs-Elysees in a very busy area of the street. We are

also hearing as you confirm the night that this attack was known to

the intelligence services. If they are known to them, then we are

starting to move toward someone to would've been known to the

anti-terrorist police, and it is a very strange thing to get out of a

car and start shooting at police officers if you will carry out an

armed robbery, said this might be why politicians are starting to step

over to this area that this might have been a specific attack aimed at

police officers. There are also reports focusing on the TV report,

they are saying that there was social media from the gunmen, saying

he wanted to attack police officers. All of that will be part of the

focus in the next 12 hours. But as James said, this will be an ongoing

police operation right up until the election now because, whether or not

there is one attack or two, that person would be known to other

people, that is why they are searching the property and they will

want to know who that person has been in contact with over the last

few days, and is the threat from the people but that person new? If it is

not focused on the other attacker that might have got away. It is

worth reiterating that the reason Christian is in Paris is to cover

the French election. It is the first round on Sunday, and Christian is

there, but as Christian just pointed out, the remainder of the campaign

is likely to be dominated by what is happening in Paris. A little while

ago, I was talking to James, we were both saying we have these

unconfirmed reports that second police officer had lost his life. We

have been cautious about that because even though news agencies

were putting out there, we were not able to confirm that. The reason we

were being cautious is because the French Interior Ministry

spokesperson said a second police officer is not dead, they are

telling us that two police officers are seriously wounded, and this

highlights the amount of information flying around on how you have to be

cautious about it. The French interior Ministry saying a second

police officer has not lost his life but that two police officers are

seriously wounded. One police officer has died. I also want to

show you this. A spokesperson saying they cannot exclude that there were

one or more attackers but again that comes back to what I was saying. We

have had multiple reports, some saying it it was someone acting

alone, some saying there were more than one person involved, nor it

seems at the moment, can be Interior Ministry be sure. Let's go back to

Christian. You know Paris very well that many people watching will not

been to Paris. What is the Champs-Elysees like at this time of

the evening of people been doing the? They would be going on a

promenade. People come out to walk up and down the street and take on

the sites and meet people, go to the shops. The people who have never

been here, it is very much like Oxford Street or Regent's Street. It

is a very big pavement. You could have 20 or 30 people deep at any one

time. I walked up there the night and it was really busy because it is

that sort of night where people can sit out on the terraces of cafes,

bright blue skies, everyone was enjoying the sunshine this evening,

and at that time in the evening when it happened, at around 8:50pm local

time, that would be peak tourist time, but just how quickly the

situation changed was extraordinary. We will broadcasting at the foot of

the building here, talking to you. First one police car and then

another, and then they came from all directions. Where to go out on the

police radio, it was police cars and ambulances, an unmarked police cars,

in such a tearing hurry to get to the Champs-Elysees to find out what

was going on and perhaps helped colleagues, they almost knocked down

pedestrians, it was bedlam for five or ten minutes. I sure do those

pictures. This picture of the bus that was suddenly surrounded on the

12 by probably seven or eight police cars. Armed police jumped out. You

can see them with their prizes on. They got everybody of this boss and

it was clear to me they thought someone was on that bus who might

have got away from the Champs-Elysees because there were

other buses going around but this particular boss was a focus for

attention. I do not know why, but it suggests to me they thought there

was somebody who might have been connected to the attack on that bus,

trying to leave the scene. Right now, it is reasonably quiet. We are

hearing some reports there is an ongoing operation around the

Champs-Elysees. The focus seems to be in eastern Paris in a building

they know to be connected with this attacker and they will hope to glean

as much intelligence from that as they can over the coming hours to

avoid any repeat of what has happened this evening. I have one

more question for you about politics. Let me show everyone

watching the response we have seen from the four people who have a

realistic chance of becoming the next French president. There are 11

candidates but realistically only four have a prospect of getting

through round one and into the final round which is a head-to-head. We

have heard from awful. Emmanuel Macron says, I want to show all my

solidarity with our law enforcement. Francois Fillon says, the picture be

to the security forces who give their lives to protect ours.

Jean-Luc Melenchon said, thoughts for the police dead and injured,

terrorist acts never go unpunished. And then Marina pen, who has been

leading the polls for the last few weeks, says, emotion and solidarity

for our security forces again being targeted. That phrase from Marine Le

Pen highlights a big issue she has emphasised throughout this campaign

which you feel that front is not getting it security right. A lot of

candidates will focus on that and the need for more resources for the

intelligence services. I was talking to a Europe Minister tonight, and

outward looking liberal guy, who is supporting Francois Fillon, he says

the threat is severe in France. He says there are 15,000 people in

France that need to be watched, and clearly you cannot watch all those

people were any one time. So, yes, there will a debate in France about

providing more resources for the security services, but surely there

also has to be a conversation about the division in French society. They

talk about the gulf between inner-city Paris and the urban

centres like this, and its housing and opportunities and opportunities

for migrant communities that underscore and create this division

in French society, and that has to be looked at as part of the

political debate as well. Christian, thank you very much for your help

over the last hour. Let's recap what we have learnt in the last hour. One

police officer has lost his life after being shot in the

Champs-Elysees. The person who carried out the attack has been shot

dead but it is not clear if he or she was acting alone but the French

interior ministry is denying reports a second police officer has died,

but they are telling us two police officers are seriously wounded.

These pictures are live from Paris at the moment. You can see various

personnel going over that particular vehicle in great detail. That

matches what we were told a few minutes ago, that one particular

vehicle was being focused on. Let's check on one last time nor the

latest information coming in to the BBC newsroom. Very interesting from

Reuters. Police have issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect

in the shooting who arrived from Belgium by train. If that is true,

that changes the nature of the story we are talking about. That is just a

police source speaking to Reuters. Then we have the French interior

Ministry spokesperson saying that they cannot exclude that there were

one or more attackers. While there is more and more information coming

in as to what happened in central Paris this evening, a lot of things

remain unknown, not just the journalists covering the story, but

the authorities as well. This is a developing situation in Paris and

you will get the very latest from all of us here in the BBC newsroom.

Coverage continues over the next few minutes. Goodbye.