Police shoot knife suspect before Tour de France finish in Rouen

French riot police shot and injured a man after he stabbed one of their officers in Rouen two hours before stage four of the Tour de France concluded in the town on Tuesday.

The suspect sustained an injury to his leg and was arrested, an investigation into the attempted murder of the police officer has been opened and assigned to the Seine-Maritime Judicial Police. According to press reports, including Le Parisien, officers were alerted when a woman reported being assaulted by a person who escaped the scene.

“The police officers pursued him and attempted to restrain the suspect, who then stabbed one of the CRS officers in the chest,” read a press release from the local public prosecutor, Sébastien Gallois. 

“The police officers pursued him and attempted to restrain the suspect, who then stabbed one of the CRS officers in the chest,” read a press release from the local public prosecutor, Sébastien Gallois. “Thanks to his chest protector, the CRS officer was not injured. At the same time, seeing his colleague being attacked, another CRS officer fired a shot with his service weapon.”

Rouen, in the French region of Normandy, has a population of around 116,000, and was packed with people for the arrival of stage four of the Tour de France, won by Tadej Pogačar and the incident will have raised significant concerns about he security of the public and race participants alike.

An update later in the day revealed the 21-year-old suspect had been on the run from hospital for two weeks, after being considered unbalanced.

The Tour de France continues on Wednesday with a 33km time trial, starting and finishing in Caen.