An attacker armed with a sawn-off shotgun wounded a Greek Orthodox priest in a shooting in the southeastern French city of Lyon before fleeing, police sources said on Saturday.
The priest was closing his church in the city’s seventh arrondissement when the attack happened, the source told AFP, who asked not to be named.
An anonymous police source told FranceInfoTV that the priest was fired on twice at around 4 p.m. local time (1500 UTC/GMT), and was treated on site for life-threatening injuries.
The source said the suspect is on the run.
The priest is now in a local hospital after being hit in the abdomen, a police official told The Associated Press.
The reason for the attack is unclear.
France’s Interior Ministry tweeted that “an incident is underway” in Lyon.
“Security and emergency personnel are at the scene,” the ministry added, warning people to “avoid the area” where the attack took place.
Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was visiting Rouen, said he was heading back to Paris to assess the situation.
