3 officers killed by gunman in France police shooting

A man suspected of killing three police officers in central France has been found dead, the country’s Interior Minister has said.

Three gendarmes were shot dead and a fourth injured after they responded to a domestic violence call in Puy-de-Dôme, near Lyon, in the early hours of Wednesday.

The alleged shooter fled the scene, triggering a manhunt.

On Wednesday morning, Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin tweeted that “the madman was found dead”.

Earlier Wednesday, the minister released a statement expressing “deep sadness” in a statement following the deaths of the three officers of the Puy-de-Dôme Departmental Gendarmerie.

CNN reported the police officers were fatally shot by a 48-year-old man as they tried to rescue a woman who had taken refuge on the roof of a house. The house was set on fire, but the woman was rescued.

“Called upon to intervene to help a woman who had been beaten by her husband, the gendarmes, in circumstances that have yet to be clarified, were shot at by the man and returned fire,” the interior minister’s statement said.

The statement said one officer was shot and seriously wounded and succumbed to his injuries. The two other officers carrying out a reconnaissance towards the house were in turn caught in gunfire and fatally wounded. A fourth officer was wounded in the thigh.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex tweeted that “this tragedy affects us all and grieves the whole country.”

Further details surrounding the death of the suspect have not yet been released.