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A Greek Orthodox priest was shot on Saturday (Sunday NZT) while closing his church in the French city of Lyon, and authorities blocked part of the city to hunt down the attacker, authorities said.
The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after being shot twice in the abdomen, a police officer told The Associated Press. The attacker was alone and fired with a hunting rifle, said the official, who was not authorized to be publicly identified.
Police cordoned off the largely residential neighborhood around the church and warned the public on social media to stay away. As night fell in Lyon, an Associated Press reporter saw police tapes and emergency vehicles throughout the neighborhood. The national police tweeted that a “serious public safety incident” was taking place.
The motive for the shooting was unclear. It came two days after an Islamic extremist knife attack on a Catholic church in the French city of Nice that killed three people, and amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet Muhammad published in the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo .
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French counterterrorism authorities were following the case but not investigating Saturday’s shooting. The interior minister activated a special emergency team to monitor the persecution and the Lyon prosecutor opened an investigation for attempted murder.
“No theory is favored, no theory is ruled out,” Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet told reporters at the scene. “We do not know at this time the motive for this attack.”
Laurent Cipriani / AP
Police officers and rescue workers blocked access to the site after a Greek Orthodox priest was shot while closing his church in the city of Lyon, central France. The priest, a Greek citizen, is in a local hospital with life-threatening injuries after receiving a blow to the abdomen, a police officer told The Associated Press.
Antoine Callot, the pastor of another Greek Orthodox church in Lyon, identified the injured priest as Nikolas Kakavelakis, a 45-year-old father of two. Callot told The Associated Press that the Greek Orthodox community in Lyon has not received any threats, but said he immediately asked police for security protection at his church after the shooting.
“We are anxious and distressed. It’s really horrible, ”he said. “Now we have to hide and be careful.”
Residents and a local police patrol heard gunshots near the church, and when officers arrived they saw an individual fleeing and found the wounded priest at the back door of the church, the Lyon prosecutor said in a statement.
Prime Minister Jean Castex reiterated the government’s promises to deploy military forces to religious sites and schools. He said the French can “count on the nation so that they can practice their religion in complete safety and freedom.”
Laurent Cipriani / AP
A soldier blocks access to the scene after a Greek Orthodox priest was shot.
The government has been promising additional security at churches, mosques and other religious sites for several days, but AP reporters have seen few visible signs of an increased police or military presence. No one was guarding the church attacked on Saturday in Lyon, or the church attacked in Nice on Thursday (Friday NZT).
Seeking to defuse tensions and explain France’s defense of the prophet’s cartoons, President Emmanuel Macron gave an interview broadcast on Saturday (local time) on the Arab network Al-Jazeera. Macron also tweeted that “our country has no problem with any religion. All are practiced here freely! Without stigmatization: France is committed to peace and harmonious coexistence ”.
