Intervention completed. A “drug addict” and suicidal man, armed with a knife and who had holed up for three hours with employees in his parents' pizzeria in Issy-les-Moulineaux, was arrested and his hostages released.
The four employees of this pizzeria located a few meters from the Paris ring road were released by the police shortly before 4 p.m., a police source told AFP.
“The intervention is completed”, there are “no injuries”, said this source.
This man “with a drug addict profile” according to a source close to the case, had locked himself in his parents' restaurant, located a few meters from the Paris ring road, shortly before 1 p.m.
According to the police source, he had already “committed similar acts” at home in 2022 “with the threat of suicide”.
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There were no “customers or public” in the restaurant with him. Shortly after the arrival of the police, an AFPTV journalist saw the parents of the entrenched man, two visibly upset sixty-year-olds, hand them the keys to the restaurant.
Personnel from the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade, an elite unit of the Parisian police) were quickly deployed on site, including a mediator, “hired because of the person concerned’s desire to commit suicide”, indicated the police source.
Negotiations were carried out before the police intervened.
The man, aged around 35-40 years old according to a source close to the case, is also not known to the courts.
“Impressive”
The police had installed red and white tape to block access to a large perimeter, and asked the many curious residents of neighboring buildings to move away from their windows.
According to AFP journalists on site, the iron curtain of the pizzeria with its bright red storefront was down. And in the surrounding area, several neighboring restaurants were also closed.
“I see him every evening in passing, he’s not well. He has a drug problem, I think,” says Anthony, a 23-year-old student, who prefers not to give his last name.
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“I saw the police arriving earlier, it’s impressive… I’ve already been to the restaurant, there was no problem,” adds Monique Teichet, retired and resident of the neighborhood.
“They have a good reputation, except him. He had already lost his temper a few years ago, it’s sad,” a manager of another pizzeria in the neighborhood seems to sympathize.
In the street a lot of police officers were visible, some wearing helmets and armed, as well as numerous police cars and fire trucks. Around twenty agents, orange armbands on their arms, were seen in front of the restaurant.
“Intervention in progress, let the security and emergency forces work,” wrote the police headquarters on course”.
