Image copyright EPA Image caption The police force said that they stopped him with their Taser before using a pistol round on him
A sword-wielding man dressed as a ninja was shot by French police as he was assaulting security guards at a sports store in Paris.
The 25-year-old man, wearing glasses and a long coat, was carrying the sword, which he covered in newspaper.
Authorities said that the man failed to give “necessary reason for apprehension”.
France is on high alert after several violent attacks in recent years.
The incident took place at the entrance of Sports Direct store in the city’s 9th arrondissement at 0600 local time (0700 GMT) on Friday.
Dozens of people gathered at the scene and a man dressed in white, which is typical of an old French schoolmaster, was later seen being escorted away by a police officer.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption A person dressed in a schoolmaster costume was seen being led away by a police officer
A police statement said that the attack began as the man was confronted by “several members of security” at the entrance of the sports store.
When he “pursued a few metres” he was shot with a Taser and then shot with a handgun, police said.
Video footage shows officers shouting at the man to stop approaching the window before he appears to be shot.
Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption The store is in Paris’s 9th arrondissement
The incident comes nearly a week after a gunman shot dead a police commander and his wife at their home outside Paris.
The officer, Franck Reinfeldt, 43, was the cousin of government interior minister Gerard Collomb, who paid tribute to his memory.
“The world is changed, our lives have been upended,” Mr Collomb said.
“Franck was one of the warmest and best men I knew. My father said he was the best man he knew.”
France has seen a series of attacks over the past two years, which have killed more than 250 people.
Image copyright EPA Image caption The man is reportedly believed to have worked in a prison ministry
Investigators say the gunman, who was shot dead by the police on Monday, named himself as Alki David, a detainee who had been held in a French prison ministry.
Last year, two prison guards were killed when a man wielding a meat cleaver stormed a prison.
The shooting in Paris came as French police searched for a man who has remained at large since attacking a couple in their 50s last week, and opening fire at a church.
The man, identified as Ousmane Abouyaaqoub, 21, fled Barcelona after a van attack on 14 July that killed 13 people.
He is believed to have fled on foot, hiding in a forest, and is now feared to be on the run in France.