his or her life, the lost his or her life, the authorities say another has been wounded. there are other elements to the story which we can bring you. some of which are confirmed, others not. this is the reuters news agency picking up on what christian said. there are reports that shots had been fired at a new location near the champs—elysees, according to one police source speaking to reuters. know the political reaction as well. remember it is round one of the french presidential election on sunday. his use of the word terrorism is significant because over the last

hour, the french interior ministry has emphasised we do not know the nature of this attack. i want to bring upa nature of this attack. i want to bring up a couple of other newswires coming into the bbc newsroom. reuters quoting a police source, say a second policeman has died from wounds of the paris shootings. we knew that one person had lost their life. according to reuters, we do not have this confirmed, but they had been correct on all the other elements of the story so far, reporting a second policeman has lost their life. the nearby stations to the paris metro had been closed and we can bring in the bbc‘s christian fraser again. in terms of what is happening in and around... hi, christian. i am just what is happening in and around... hi, christian. i amjust watching the helicopter. apart from the

champs—elysees itself, are people able to move around within the area quite easily? yes, but there are not a lot of people. a public announcement has gone out, urging people to stay away from the champs—elysees. that seems to have been led by people in this area. there are very few people on the pavements at the moment. the people are being directed from other areas, directed away from the champs—elysees. i can still see, down the champs—elysees, there are armed police in prominent positions up armed police in prominent positions up and down the champs—elysees, near some of the restaurants and hotels. what i do not know is whether people have been allowed to leave restau ra nts have been allowed to leave restaurants or whether they had been keptin restaurants or whether they had been kept in place until they are absolutely sure there is no one still out there. but still a lot of police activity going on. you can probably see some of the flashing

blue lights. they moved from the underpass, they have left the scene at the moment, maybe they had been moved forward onto the champs—elysees, but generally it is reasonably quiet and secure now. the helicopter appears to have moved to a different part of the city, it is not circulating around the champs—elysees for the moment. not circulating around the champs-elysees for the moment. all the while we are talking, more information is coming in. let's bring more of that for you. according to a police source talking to reuters, police are searching the home of the person who carried out the attack on the champs—elysees. we have also seen wire copy coming in that the authorities are saying this person was known the authorities. this is also relevant, this from reuters will stop the counterterrorism office open an investigation into the shooting, one of the gunmen was killed in the attack was known to the security

forces. that phrase, one of the gunmen, is interesting because there isa gunmen, is interesting because there is a huge amount of uncertainty around whether this attack was carried out by one person or more. some reports have said one, other have said more. they cannot be certain at all at the moment. if you arejust certain at all at the moment. if you are just joining certain at all at the moment. if you arejustjoining us, certain at all at the moment. if you are just joining us, many certain at all at the moment. if you arejustjoining us, many of certain at all at the moment. if you are justjoining us, many of you watching will have been to paris, and you will certainly have been to the champs—elysees. we have the arc de triomphe and the road comes away from that to the east. it is one of the most famous roads and do world. one journalist who lived closest to the champs—elysees, they said even in the evening this would've been incredibly busy. let's update you on a couple of other elements to the story. we have heard francois fillon paying tribute to the security forces. as we were discussing, even though we do not know the very

nature of this attack, already it is becoming politicised the different candidates for the presidency offering their condolences and, in some cases, their thoughts about what has happened. let's bring in a security expert. thank you for your time. with a story and situation unfolding like this, what will be the priorities of the security forces on the champs—elysees? the priorities of the security forces on the champs-elysees? one of the key issues will be to try to control information that will be circulating around, and it will be to try to gather as much evidence as they possibly can, again in peace times when most of us will have some kind of camera within our phones. they will try to get as much evidence as they can, particularly as reports are led to believe. one of the gunmen potentially is on the run. in terms of communication with

the concerned public, presumably that has to remain a priority, even though the police may not know exactly what is happening? no, absolutely. they're in mind what a cosmopolitan city paris is, much like london when we had the westminster attack recently, there will try to get the that not only to the local residents, but also all foreign visitors. the champs—elysees is such a representative sight of paris, and this is the ideal target particularly by some terrorist affiliated groups because it is the capital and internationally recognised. police will control this local area as much as possible, particularly as there may be other strands to this. one cannot presume there isn't these days. they will control people indoors and the local

areas and then ultimately making sure other people do not come into this catchment area. stay with us. earlier, i mentioned that we had potential reports of another shooting close to the champs—elysees. paris police have confirmed to the bbc that that reporterfor confirmed to the bbc that that reporter for the confirmed to the bbc that that reporterfor the gunfire confirmed to the bbc that that reporter for the gunfire was a force report. people were claiming there we re report. people were claiming there were further gunshots. since we have contacted the resume police who have said that was a force report. will, it highlights the amount of disinformation and in misinformation the authorities are sifting through. absolutely. one only has to look at twitter a look at the various reports coming in from different sources. even the bbc will resort to twitter to try to gather as much information as they can. news

agencies like yourself has a bigger job as the police do, sifting through information, following up on reports, and it is not uncommon that we will hear of simultaneous attacks or other reports of attacks within proximity or possibly close by, and again this could be from a variety of different elements, it could be from individuals who heard the initial attacks, and particularly in a city where sound can travel extensively, it can be leading to greater levels of concern. this is why the authorities will need to come up with a formal statement pretty quickly to again reassure the general public that they have control of the situation. one further question, we all being told this attack was known to the authorities. in those circumstances presumably they are able to move much faster in investigating. absolutely. the french had been playing catch—up game since some of

the earlier attacks, particularly charlie hebdo, which was a wake—up call for them. but because quite a few of the notable attacks in the la st few of the notable attacks in the last year or so have come from a variety of different areas, the concern right now is that ultimately, they need to have immediate triggers of any particular names to ensure that if they do recognise is a perpetrator's name, they can follow that lead very quickly. we appreciate your time, thank you very much forjoining us. in the last few minutes, i have brought you there is political reactions. the far left candidate jean—luc melenchon saying, my thoughts to the police and their families. jean—luc melenchon describing this as a terrorist act while the authorities are saying

they did not know the motivation. let me check again, the news wires coming in here. president armand is holding a crisis meeting with the prime minister and interior minister as you would expect with a situation like this unfolding. here is what one eyewitness had to say. we were moving towards a car and then i heard two or three shots but i did not realise they were shots to start with. then there was panic all around, with. then there was panic all around , everyone with. then there was panic all around, everyone started running down the champs—elysees by instinct. idid not down the champs—elysees by instinct. i did not stop to work out what was going on, ijust ran. police were already in place, blocking the road with the trucks, i took shelter behind them. i did not have time to do anything other than just behind them. i did not have time to do anything other thanjust run away. the french interior ministry... it is saying they are

assessing the vehicle of the assailant with regards to the attack on the champs—elysees. it can also show you some of the stills coming in of the police operation underway. particularly because of what has happened in paris over the last couple of years, the response to this incident has been considerable, as you would expect. let's bring back ken james in as you would expect. let's bring back kenjames in paris. please bring us date with what you have got. i want to repeat a report on the reuters news agency, suggesting police are carrying out a search at the attacker‘s home east of paris. in the last 30 or a0 minutes, we have brought you those reports, suggesting they knew who the suspected attacker was. those reports have developed and suggest the police are carrying out a search of the person's house. it is important because they will want to

work at exactly who he was, why he might have carried out this attack and whether or not he was working with any others. in that last question is critical, as the police try to work out if it is over or if there are other people they need to go look for. we had this interesting situation with the police are saying, we did not know what is behind this attack, the already very high profile politicians are calling itan act high profile politicians are calling it an act of terrorism. yes, and you can almost imagine politicians thinking there is no harm in condemning terrorism as soon as they hear of condemning terrorism as soon as they hearofan condemning terrorism as soon as they hear of an attack on the police, it does them no harm even if it turns out the attack had other motives. very early on after we had the report, there was one initial report from the police suggesting it was a terrorist attack. there are suggestions it might possibly be a robbery. we have not seen anything further than that because at the

moment, there are reports that the man was known to the police only. let me bring you another few updates. the prime minister has taken to twitter to pay tribute to the policeman killed in the attack tonight, falls to his family and solidarity with the injured collea g u es solidarity with the injured colleagues and relatives. to reiterate to you, we have heard from donald trump as well, who was offered his condolences to the people of france after the killing of the police officer in paris, saying it looks like another terrorist act. donald trump has been meeting the leader of italy. we were expecting to be covering the joint press co nfe re nce expecting to be covering the joint press conference but that's not happened for obvious reasons, but donald trump is offering his condolences to the people of france because of a terrorist act let's bring in james again. because of a terrorist act let's bring injames again. we talked earlier that the authorities had said one person had died, voigt is then carried a report saying a

second police officer had died, are we able to confirm that yet?|j second police officer had died, are we able to confirm that yet? i am reading something i have seen on social media. second police officer has succumbed to his wounds. those reports coming from various police federations, saying there is a second police officer who has been killed. we have not yet heard that from the government, the interior ministry, and as french people know all too well, it is the interior ministry to whom they have to turn the term for updates on nights or days like this. tell us about the champs—elysees. if anyone wants to drive up it, can the? they can. earlier today, when i was coming in from the airport, it was very difficult to get down from the arc de triomphe. we had to use side roads because the police had blocked off one particular rd heading down from the arc de triomphe which caused a lot of trafficjams. it

would not have been easy to get down from one side to another but later on, isaw from one side to another but later on, i saw traffic going in both directions and i did not notice... it would been unheard of to have checkpoints on either side of the champs—elysees. if there was an attacker who wanted to drive along the champs—elysees and then find police officers on either side of the road, that would've been doable. in terms of how many people carried this attack out, one person was involved, do we have any indication as to whether they acted alone or with help? we do not we will remember what you were speaking to christian about, when he was talking about the police surrounding a bus. that gives you an indication of the instinct the police will have on the minutes after an attack, where they will not just minutes after an attack, where they will notjust think minutes after an attack, where they will not just think this minutes after an attack, where they will notjust think this person was alone, they will look anyone in the area and try to identify the person and find out who his network of people, supporters, may have been.

we do not have any indication do at this stage whether or not the attacker was driving with anyone else or whether he was alone. james, for the moment, thank you very much for the moment, thank you very much for your help again. i'm live in london, where a story has been developing over the last 90 minutes or so. let me reiterate where we have got to. there has been a shooting on the champs—elysees in paris, the city's most famous street and arguably france's. one police officer has lost his life. we did have a statement from a police union and there is a separate police source saying a second police officer has lost his life but we're not able to confirm that at the moment. high—profile politicians and france have referred to this as an act of terrorism, however the french interior minister is saying, we do not know the motivation behind this attack. there is one person involved

that they have been reports of extra people being involved. however, quite often in developing stories like this, you get reports of extra people being involved and it does not prove to be the case, so we cannot confirm if anyone was involved beyond that single attacker. if we go in closer, we can see the arctic triomphe where we we re see the arctic triomphe where we were talking to christian fraser, and the attack took place in the champs—elysees to the east. throughout the hour, more information has been coming through. we have plugged back into the bbc newsroom to we have plugged back into the bbc news roo m to a ccess we have plugged back into the bbc newsroom to access all the latest information. all the stations nearby to wear this attack is taken place have been closed. police are also warning people not to spread any misinformation that has not come

from a trusted source save the authorities. also, the counterterrorism officers have offered an investigation into the shooting. you will notice this wire from reuters talks about gunmen, we're not sure whether it was a gunman or gunmen, but one person has been killed. according to a police source, speaking to the authorities. a couple of other things to mention here. donald trump has come out and offered his condolences to france over what has happened, saying, it looks like another terrorist attack. james has been helping us from the newsroom of the bbc in paris. christian was just by the champs—elysees. we spoke to him on outside source when it was not clear when this story was developing, but we are clear now it has happened. is is still ongoing? do we know if this

is still ongoing? do we know if this isa is still ongoing? do we know if this is a live situation? there are a lot of conflicting reports so i do not wa nt to of conflicting reports so i do not want to put information at the that might not stand up but there are reports quoting police sources that there is another attack of are looking for. i havejust there is another attack of are looking for. i have just seen footage sent to me by people who are in paris of what looks to be the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and you can see the police van in the car that was pulled up right alongside it, and what you picture in the image is a police man putting his gun down on the pavement as if they just just killed the his gun down on the pavement as if theyjustjust killed the attacker had just literally come upon them. we are also hearing from various news reports, unconfirmed, two policeman had been killed but they are also saying the third one had been injured. maybe there were three is part of a small group. but it is

halfway down the champs—elysees in a very busy area of the street. we are also hearing as you confirm the night that this attack was known to the intelligence services. if they are known to them, then we are starting to move toward someone to would've been known to the anti—terrorist police, and it is a very strange thing to get out of a carand very strange thing to get out of a car and start shooting at police officers if you will carry out an armed robbery, said this might be why politicians are starting to step over to this area that this might have been a specific attack aimed at police officers. there are also reports focusing on the tv report, they are saying that there was social media from the gunmen, saying

he wanted to attack police officers. all of that will be part of the focus in the next 12 hours. but as james said, this will be an ongoing police operation right up until the election now because, whether or not there is one attack or two, that person would be known to other people, that is why they are searching the property and they will wa nt to searching the property and they will want to know who that person has beenin want to know who that person has been in contact with over the last few days, and is the threat from the people but that person new? if it is not focused on the other attacker that might have got away. not focused on the other attacker that might have got awaym not focused on the other attacker that might have got away. it is worth reiterating that the reason christian is in paris is to cover the french election. it is the first round on sunday, and christian is there, but as christian just pointed out, the remainder of the campaign is likely to be dominated by what is happening in paris. a little while ago, i was talking to james, we were

both saying we have these unconfirmed reports that second police officer had lost his life. we have been cautious about that because even though news agencies we re because even though news agencies were putting out there, we were not able to confirm that. the reason we we re able to confirm that. the reason we were being cautious is because the french interior ministry spokesperson said a second police officer is not dead, they are telling us that two police officers are seriously wounded, and this highlights the amount of information flying around on how you have to be cautious about it. the french interior ministry saying a second police officer has not lost his life but that two police officers are seriously wounded. one police officer has died. i also want to show you this. a spokesperson saying they cannot exclude that there were one or more attackers but again that comes back to what i was saying. we have had multiple reports, some saying it it was someone acting alone, some saying there were more

than one person involved, nor it seems at the moment, can be interior ministry be sure. let's go back to christian. you know paris very well that many people watching will not been to paris. what is the champs—elysees like at this time of the evening of people been doing the? they would be going on a promenade. people come out to walk up promenade. people come out to walk up and down the street and take on the sites and meet people, go to the shops. the people who have never been here, it is very much like oxford street or regent's street. it isa oxford street or regent's street. it is a very big pavement. you could have 20 or 30 people deep at any one time. i walked up there the night and it was really busy because it is that sort of night where people can sit out on the terraces of cafes, bright blue skies, everyone was enjoying the sunshine this evening, and at that time in the evening when

it happened, at around 8:50pm local time, that would be peak tourist time, that would be peak tourist time, butjust how quickly the situation changed was extraordinary. we will broadcasting at the foot of the building here, talking to you. first one police car and then another, and then they came from all directions. where to go out on the police radio, it was police cars and ambulances, an unmarked police cars, in sucha ambulances, an unmarked police cars, in such a tearing hurry to get to the champs—elysees to find out what was going on and perhaps helped colleagues, they almost knocked down pedestrians, it was bedlam for five or ten minutes. i sure do those pictures. this picture of the bus that was suddenly surrounded on the 12 by probably seven or eight police ca rs. 12 by probably seven or eight police cars. armed police jumped 12 by probably seven or eight police cars. armed policejumped out. you can see them with their prizes on.

they got everybody of this boss and it was clear to me they thought someone was on that bus who might have got away from the champs—elysees because there were other buses going around but this particular boss was a focus for attention. i do not know why, but it suggests to me they thought there was somebody who might have been connected to the attack on that bus, trying to leave the scene. right now, it is reasonably quiet. we are hearing some reports there is an ongoing operation around the champs—elysees. the focus seems to be in eastern paris in a building they know to be connected with this attacker and they will hope to glean as much intelligence from that as they can over the coming hours to avoid any repeat of what has happened this evening. avoid any repeat of what has happened this eveninglj avoid any repeat of what has happened this evening. i have one more question for you about politics. let me show everyone watching the response we have seen from the four people who have a

realistic chance of becoming the next french president. there are 11 candidates but realistically only four have a prospect of getting through round one and into the final round which is a head—to—head. we have heard from awful. emmanuel macron says, i want to show all my solidarity with our law enforcement. francois fillon says, the picture be to the security forces who give their lives to protect ours. jean—luc melenchon said, thoughts for the police dead and injured, terrorist acts never go unpunished. and then marina pen, who has been leading the polls for the last few weeks, says, emotion and solidarity for our security forces again being targeted. that phrase from marine le pen highlights a big issue she has

emphasised throughout this campaign which you feel that front is not getting it security right. a lot of candidates will focus on that and the need for more resources for the intelligence services. i was talking toa intelligence services. i was talking to a europe minister tonight, and outward looking liberal guy, who is supporting francois fillon, he says the threat is severe in france. he says there are 15,000 people in france that need to be watched, and clearly you cannot watch all those people were any one time. so, yes, there will a debate in france about providing more resources for the security services, but surely there also has to be a conversation about the division in french society. they talk about the gulf between inner—city paris and the urban centres like this, and its housing and opportunities and opportunities for migrant communities that

underscore and create this division in french society, and that has to be looked at as part of the political debate as well. christian, thank you very much for your help over the last hour. let's recap what we have learnt in the last hour. one police officer has lost his life after being shot in the champs—elysees. the person who carried out the attack has been shot dead but it is not clear if he or she was acting alone but the french interior ministry is denying reports a second police officer has died, but they are telling us two police officers are seriously wounded. these pictures are live from paris at the moment. you can see various personnel going over that particular vehicle in great detail. that matches what we were told a few minutes ago, that one particular vehicle was being focused on. let's check on one last time nor the latest information coming in to the

bbc newsroom. very interesting from reuters. police have issued an arrest warrant for a second suspect in the shooting who arrived from belgium by train. if that is true, that changes the nature of the story we are talking about. that is just a police source speaking to reuters. then we have the french interior ministry spokesperson saying that they cannot exclude that there were one or more attackers. while there is more and more information coming in as to what happened in central paris this evening, a lot of things remain unknown, not just paris this evening, a lot of things remain unknown, notjust the journalists covering the story, but the authorities as well. this is a developing situation in paris and you will get the very latest from all of us here in the bbc newsroom. coverage continues over the next few minutes. goodbye. tonight at ten.

a policeman has been shot dead on the champs elysees in paris. a major security operation is underway. you have to stay back please! the champs elysees is closed because of shotguns, stay back. a gunman got out of a car on the busy boulevard and opened fire on a coach carrying police officers. the attack took place just under two hours ago — the entire area around the champs elysees has been evacuated. and meat we were moving towards the carand and meat we were moving towards the car and heard two or three shots. i didn't realise they were shots to start with. there was panic all around. two other police officers have been injured — the french authorities say they are treating it as a terrorist incident. this is the live scene in paris now — the police say they're not ruling out the possibility that there were other attackers. it comes three days before the first round