An armed man was shot and critically wounded on Friday, February 13, after threatening gendarmes near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, police sources told Le Figaro. He was taken into custody shortly after 6 p.m. and transported to hospital in critical condition. He later died from his injuries, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office.
According to initial reports, the suspect, who was already known to police, attempted to attack a gendarme during the daily rekindling ceremony of the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which takes place every evening at 6 p.m. He reportedly shouted:
“You shouldn’t have killed our women and children, we’ll see who will triumph under the Arc de Triomphe,”
though his precise motives and identity were not immediately confirmed. The threatened officer responded by opening fire.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez stated:
“A man attempted to assault gendarmerie personnel with a bladed weapon, notably members of the gendarmerie band preparing for the ceremony. This individual tried to take the life of a gendarme.”
The mayor of Paris’s 8th arrondissement, Jeanne d’Hauteserre, confirmed the incident. Place de l’Étoile was sealed off, and the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office took charge of the investigation. The anti-terrorism section of the Paris judicial police criminal brigade was deployed on site, and the domestic intelligence agency DGSI is expected to be involved.
The suspect had reportedly been listed under a French administrative surveillance measure known as MICAS, which allows for monitoring individuals considered security threats. He was also under judicial supervision and electronically monitored, according to sources.
Video footage aired by BFMTV shows the man surrounded by gendarmes before being shot and collapsing against a police vehicle.
Several riot police vans were stationed around Place de l’Étoile, blocking access to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Nearby bus stops were not operating, and metro stations were temporarily closed. Traffic resumed around 8 p.m., although security forces remained heavily present and several surrounding streets were still cordoned off.
Suspect Identified as Previously Convicted Islamist Attacker
The suspect has been identified as Brahim B., born in 1978 in Mantes-la-Jolie, France. He had previously been convicted in Belgium in 2013 and sentenced to 17 years in prison for stabbing two police officers in Brussels in 2012.
On June 8, 2012, armed with a knife, he attacked three officers conducting a routine check at a metro station in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, injuring two of them. He later told investigators he had wanted to take revenge against the Belgian government for banning the full-face veil in public and demanded the withdrawal of “infidels” from Afghanistan.
The Belgian court found him guilty of three counts of attempted murder with terrorist intent. Investigators had determined that he had consulted numerous jihadist websites and had previously sought to join fighting in Somalia.
He was transferred to France on January 27, 2015, following a judicial recognition procedure. According to the French anti-terrorism prosecutor, he was released from prison on December 24, 2025, and had since been under judicial supervision ordered in June 2025.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office has formally opened an investigation into Friday’s attack.
