A man has been shot dead by police in the southern French city of Marseille after five people were wounded in a hotel and a nearby street.
The man was armed with two knives and a baton and had ignored police warnings to drop his weapons, Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters.
He had been evicted from the hotel for unpaid rent and attacked one person in his old room, before stabbing the hotel manager and his son, the prosecutor said.
Witnesses described hearing shots ring out in front of a kebab restaurant not far from the Old Port in Marseille shortly before 15:00 (13:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
Nicolas Bessone described the suspected attacker as a Tunisian national who was legally resident in France but known to police.
After being thrown out of the hotel, he said the man had returned armed with knives and attacked three people, before going on to the snack bar where he tried to stab the manager.
Customers chased him away from the restaurant on Cours Belsunce, a few minutes’ walk from the Old Port. Police then arrived at the scene where they opened fire with a taser and guns.
One of the victims stabbed at the hotel was in a critical condition, the prosecutor said, and the other two were also seriously wounded.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was due to visit the scene of the attack later on Tuesday.
Marseille Mayor Benoît Payan expressed his full support to all those caught up in Tuesday’s attack and praised police for their quick response. “The security of the women and men of Marseille is my priority,” he wrote on social media.
