French soldiers patrols at the Eiffel Tower after a shooting at a French satirical newspaper, in Paris, France, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015. France reinforced security at houses of worship, stores, media offices and transportation after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 11 people before escaping. AP
PARIS — A police officer and a street sweeper were shot and gravely wounded at the southern edge of Paris on Thursday, raising tensions a day after masked gunmen stormed the offices of a satirical newspaper and killed 12 people.
The attacker in the pre-dawn shooting Thursday remained at large, said French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. He cautioned against jumping to any conclusions about the attack, which has not been linked to the assault on the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which left two police officers among the dead.
In the Thursday shooting, he said the officer had stopped to investigate a traffic accident when the firing started. Paris police said the second victim was a street sweeper.
“There was an officer in front of a white car and a man running away who shot,” said Ahmed Sassi, who saw the shooting from his home nearby.
He said the shooter wore dark clothes but no mask. “It didn’t look like a big gun because he held it with one hand,” Sassi said.
Cazeneuve left an emergency government meeting to travel to the scene of Thursday’s shooting. France is on its highest level of alert after the deadly attacks at Charlie Hebdo’s central Paris offices.
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