The local prosecutor says two investigations are underway into the attempted arson and the death of an unidentified suspect.
Police in France have shot dead a gunman suspected of setting fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen, authorities said.
On Friday, police intervened around 6:45 a.m. (04:45 GMT) after smoke was reported at the synagogue. A man present at the scene, allegedly carrying a knife and a crowbar, threatened a police officer, who then “used his weapon,” the Rouen prosecutor said.
The man was not immediately identified.
Previously, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin published in X that the armed individual was “neutralized.”
According to the prosecutor, two investigations were being carried out, the first into the arson of a place of worship and “intentional violence” against the police, and the second into the man's death.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said it was currently evaluating whether to take on the case, the AFP news agency reported.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, mayor of Rouen, said the attack on the synagogue did not just affect the faithful, but the entire city was left “bruised and shocked.”
There were no other victims, he said, posting on X from the scene.
“Tonight is the beginning of the Sabbath and it is important to light the candles to show that we are not afraid,” Rouen's chief rabbi, Chmouel Lubecki, told the BFMTV news network.
Maximum alert
France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as the largest Muslim community in Europe. Tensions rose after the start of Israel's war in Gaza on October 7 following a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel.
Red graffiti was sprayed on France's Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, drawing the ire of even President Emmanuel Macron, who condemned “hateful anti-Semitism.”
“Trying to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again an attempt is being made to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Fighting anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), wrote in X.
In 2016, Rouen was rocked by an attack later claimed by ISIS (ISIL) when a priest was killed with a knife during a service in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in the southern part of the Rouen urban agglomeration.
France will host the Summer Olympics in two months and recently raised its alert status to the highest level in the current geopolitical context.
