Three days after a terrorist attack killed 3 people in a catholic church in Nice, around 4 p.m., near the Greek Orthodox Church located rue Père Chevrier in Lyon, an Orthodox archpriest, who was closing his church, was attacked by a single man.
He opened fire twice, before fleeing, according to a police source in Le Monde. The priest was injured, his vital prognosis is engaged.
The gunman fled the scene, sparking a manhunt. A suspect resembling witness descriptions was later taken into custody.
The motive for the attack remains unclear. Authorities have opened an investigation of attempted murder.
The French interior ministry said security and emergency personnel were on the scene, and urged people to avoid the area.
In a statement on Saturday night, Lyon’s public prosecutor, Nicolas Jacquet, said “a person who could correspond to the description given by the initial witnesses has been placed in police custody”.
He added that the suspect had not been carrying a weapon at the time of his arrest. Investigators are trying to determine his identity.
Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet earlier told reporters: “We don’t know at this stage the motive for this attack.”
The priest has been identified as Nikolas Kakavelakis. He is in hospital and is reported to be in a serious condition.
The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, tweeted that he was on his way to Lyon, France’s third-largest city. France has stepped up security across the country in the wake of the attacks, and ministers and officials had warned more were likely.
President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that the country’s security threat alert had been raised to the highest level. An extra 4,000 soldiers were being deployed across the country as part of Operation Sentinelle, Macron said, bringing the total number of troops mobilised to 7,000.
