Another day, another shooting, this time however in Paris, and one involving French mega bank SocGen.
From SocGen's official twitter account.
Confirms that one man opened fire in front of the SG towers. No injuries, the police are on site and investigating.
— Société Générale (@SocieteGenerale) November 18, 2013 [7]
BREAKING: Shots fired at HQ Société Générale in Paris-La Défense https://t.co/sv2w3GtnBs [8]
— Stefan de Vries (@stefandevries) November 18, 2013 [9]
#France [10] update. Suspected gunman that attacked Liberation HQ and Societe Generale hijacked a car and now on the loose at Champs Elysees.
— José Miguel Sardo (@jmsardo) November 18, 2013 [11]
It seems that this incident is related to an earlier reported shooting at French left-wing newspaper Liberation. From The Local [12]:
A journalist, believed to be a photographer's assistant, is said to be in "critical" condition after a gunman opened fire on Monday at left-wing French newspaper Libération. Police were quickly deployed at major media offices in Paris for fear of further attacks.
Paris shooting latest:
- Unconfirmed reports of a second shooting at offices of French bank Société Général in La Défense
- Photographer's assistant wounded when gunamn opened fire at offices of left-wing Libération newspaper
A man opened fire with a sawn-off pump-action shotgun at the Paris offices of left-wing French newspaper Libération on Monday morning.
At least one person, believed to be a 27-year-old photographer's assistant, was injured in the shooting. Libération itself said the victim had been shot in the stomach and thorax, and was in a "critical" condition in hospital.
Later on Monday there were reports in the French press of a second shooting at the offices of Société General in the French financial district La Défense.
The gunman is reported to have used a sawn-off pump-action shotgun in the attack, which took place at around 10.15 am at the offices on Rue Beranger in the 3rd arrondissement of the capital.
"I was just arriving for work and I saw a man lying on the ground, holding his stomach and with blood everywhere," Liberation journalist Anastasia Vecrin told AFP.
According to France Info radio, the attacker has been described as appearing to be aged in his 40s, with a shaved head, wearing a long green coat and bullet-proof vest.
A journalist at Libération tweeted that the attacker had fired two to three shots on the ground floor of the premises before fleeing on foot.
Libération journalist Quentin Descamps who tweeted at 10.29 am that shots had been fired on the ground floor of the daily newspaper's office in Paris.
Police have erected a security cordon around the left-wing daily newspaper's offices, according to AFP.
Though the precise circumstances and motivation of the assailant are not yet known, Libération's director Nicolas Demorand has reacted with outrage to the shooting.
"We are the horrified witnesses of a tragedy," he told AFP. "When someone walks into a newspaper with a gun, that's very very serious in a democracy, regardless of the mental state of that person," he added.
"If papers and other media have to become bunkers, something has gone wrong in our society."
Monday's shooting comes just three days after an armed man burst into the Paris offices of BFM television, threatening journalists and staff there before fleeing.
The suspect in that incident is said to have told terrified witnesses "Next time I won't miss you," according to a police source cited by Libération, who added: "Obviously we're going to try and see if there is a link between these two incidents."
Police have been posted outside the Paris offices of major French media outlets including Le Monde, Le Figaro and Les Echos, and Europe 1 radio, according to Libération.
Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoë and police chief Bernard Boucault are at the scene of today's shooting. Manuel Valls and Aurelie Filippetti - French ministers of the Interior and of Culture respectively - are expected to arrive in the afternoon.
There was no response from Libération when The Local tried to contact the newspaper.
And from AFP [13];
A 27-year-old photographer was left fighting for his life Monday after being shot by an intruder at the Paris offices of left-wing French daily Liberation.
The victim was shot in the chest and stomach with a pump-action shotgun and was in a critical condition, police and the newspaper said.
The shooter fled the scene and was still at large several hours after the attack, which occurred around 10:15am (0915 GMT).
"I was just arriving for work and I saw a man lying on the ground, holding his stomach and with blood everywhere," Liberation journalist Anastasia Vecrin told AFP.
Police were quickly deployed at all media offices in Paris for fear of further attacks.
The Liberation shooting came three days after a man stormed into the Paris headquarters of news channel BFMTV and emptied several cartridges from a similar shotgun before warning a senior editor: "Next time, I will not miss you."
Police are investigating a possible link between the two incidents.
Liberation executive Nicolas Demorand said the attack had left staff horrified.
"When you have someone with a shotgun coming into a newspaper's offices in a democracy, it is very, very serious, whatever the mental state of the person," Demorand told AFP.
"If papers and other media have to become bunkers, something has gone wrong in our society."
A police security cordon had been erected around Liberation's editorial offices in central Paris.
The newspaper said the injured man worked as an assistant to one of the photographers for Next, a supplement of the newspaper.