Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Thousands of people were evacuated at France’s Orly Airport on Saturday after a man seized a soldier’s weapon, prompting police to fatally shoot him. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the man attacked a patrol of three soldiers, wrestling one of them to the ground in a bid to take her weapon. The two other soldiers promptly opened fire. Authorities have determined that the attacker was also involved in an earlier incident near the airport in which he fired birdshot at police officers during a traffic stop and hijacked a civilian’s car. It was not immediately clear what the man’s motive was, but Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said he was known by both police and the country’s intelligence service. Anti-terrorism investigators have taken over the probe into the attack, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The interior ministry reassured on Twitter that “the events this morning at the airport caused no injuries.” Authorities took no chances with the latest incident and sent explosives experts to the airport to make sure the attacker didn’t plant any bombs in the vicinity. By about noon local time, authorities had completed their searches of the airport and allowed passengers who had been blocked on board arriving flights during the panic to disembark.