PARIS -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.
Police said the man went to his ex-partner's house around midnight Saturday into Sunday and threatened her new boyfriend. Officers then came under fire when they arrived at the scene. There were no reports of injuries.
Andre Petillot, commander of the regional police force, had said the suspect was used to operating on his own and could stay hidden for several days.
Elite forces, along with more than 300 gendarmes, sniffer dogs, plus seven helicopters and 11 armoured vehicles, had been searching since Saturday.
Police had called for witness and issued a photo of the suspect, a bearded man of athletic built named Terry Dupin, born in 1992 in Rosny-Sous-Bois near Paris.