ISIS claims responsibility in Paris shooting

UPDATE: The gunman in the attack on Paris’ Champs-Élysées on Thursday had a note with him defending Islamic State (ISIS), France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said.

Police investigating the attack found a note praising ISIS that apparently fell from the pocket of French assailant Karim Cheurfi, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said. Cheurfi also had addresses of police stations written on bits of paper in his car.

A French association of LGBT police officers identified the policeman killed in Thursday’s attack as Xavier Jugele, age 37. Jugele was among the officers who responded to the gun-and-bomb attack on Paris’ Bataclan concert hall on Nov. 13, 2015, among a wave of assaults in the French capital that killed 130 people.

UPDATE (10:36 a.m.): The gunman who attacked police on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Thursday had been the subject of an investigation earlier this year, police said. Investigators detained Frenchman Karim Cheurfi, 39, in February for making threatening statements about police but released him for lack of evidence. Cheurfi was convicted in 2003 of attempted homicide in the shootings of two police officers.

A statement by Islamic State (ISIS) taking credit for the attack apparently misidentified the perpetrator. Authorities said they believed the attacker acted alone.

The French government reassured citizens today of security plans for Sunday’s election, the first stage of a two-round presidential vote. “Nothing must hamper this democratic moment, essential for our country,” Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. U.S. President Donald Trump pointed out the significance of the timing of Thursday’s attack on Twitter, writing, “Another terrorist attack in Paris. The people of France will not take much more of this. Will have a big effect on presidential election!”

OUR EARLIER REPORT (6:06 p.m., 4/20/17): French authorities say an attacker using an “automatic weapon” opened fire on police along the Champs-Élysées in Paris Thursday night, killing one officer and seriously wounding two others before police shot and killed him.

ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a USA Today report that cited SITE Intel Group, a U.S. organization that monitors terrorist activity.

According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, counterterrorism investigators are assisting in the probe. Two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, said authorities had flagged the attacker as an extremist. Meanwhile, French President François Hollande said he is convinced the circumstances of the Paris shooting point to a terrorist act.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press the attacker targeted officers guarding an area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station. French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM television that a man stepped out of a car and opened fire on a police vehicle. He said the officers were “deliberately” targeted.

U.S. President Donald Trump said the shooting in Paris “looks like another terrorist attack” and sent condolences to France, adding, “What can you say? It never ends.”

The attack came three days before the first round of France’s presidential election. A French television station hosting a televised event with the 11 candidates running for president briefly interrupted its broadcast to report the shootings, but none of the candidates immediately commented.