An armed former soldier on the run in southwestern France has been arrested after being seriously injured in a shootout with security forces following a massive manhunt, the local police head said on Monday.
Police with sniffer dogs had been combing woods in the Dordogne region since Sunday for the suspect after he opened fire on officers responding to a domestic violence incident.
“The man was injured in a response shot (by security forces),” Dordogne Prefect Federic Perissat told a news conference.
Authorities had said the suspect was a heavily armed former soldier who they believed was carrying a long-range hunting rifle.
The 1,800 inhabitants of the village of Le Lardin-Saint-Lazare in the Dordogne were urged to stay at home and schools were closed as police helicopters circled above.—Reuters
