Police say the attacker had been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
ADVERTISEMENTA man wielding a bladed weapon attacked and wounded six people at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris on Wednesday morning, leaving one with serious injuries, before being shot by off-duty police officers, authorities said.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters the man attacked travellers with what looked like a homemade weapon at 6:42 CET at the entrance and inside the station. Police had earlier said the man had used a knife or blade.
Within a minute, off-duty police officers returning home after a night shift shot the attacker three times, Darmanin said.
Gare du Nord, one of the busiest stations in Europe, is the arrival point of the Eurostar train from London and a major gateway to the north of Europe.
Asked about possible terrorist motives, Darmanin said a criminal investigation had been opened but that so far, no investigation for terrorism had been launched.
He said the attacker, who had been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, said nothing during the attack and had no identity papers on him. One of the six injured is a police officer, Darmanin said.
Police secured the area following the attack. Rail operator SNCF said trains were operating normally.
In February 2022, police killed a man who attacked them with a knife at the Gare du Nord station.
In October 2017, a man who stabbed two people at the Marseille train station was shot and killed by soldiers.
In neighbouring Belgium, an officer was killed and another one injured last November after a man attacked a police patrol near the Gare du Nord/Brussel-Noord train station in downtown Brussels.