Hijab-wearing woman shot by police in Paris metro, condition critical

PARIS (Reuters): Paris police shot and critically wounded a woman wearing a hijab in a metro station on Tuesday morning, after commuters reported her shouting Jihadist slogans and behaving in a threatening manner, the government said.

France is on its highest state of alert after the Oct. 13 murder of a schoolteacher in a suspected Islamist attack, which officials have linked to what they called a “Jihadist atmosphere” linked to the Israel-Gaza war.

The fully-veiled woman was shot at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France station. Commuters had earlier reported her “uttering aggressive, Jihadist comments,” government spokesman Olivier Veran said.

When police arrived, “they pulled the woman aside and first asked her to calm down but also to show her hands to show they presented no particular danger,” he added.

“What happened then was that law enforcement officers had no option but to open fire on this woman given the danger of the situation.”

The fire service, which provided emergency care for the woman, said she was shot in the abdomen. She was transferred to a nearby hospital.

Veran said the woman had in the past threatened urban patrols of the counter-terrorism Sentinelle operation.

The metro station, on the RER C line, was evacuated after the incident, police said.

Two investigations were opened, one against the woman and a second into the use of weapons by police, the government spokesman said.