PARIS — A suspected terrorist stole a car, opened fire at police then took hostages at a nearby supermarket before being fatally shot Friday, authorities in southern France said. Three people were killed in the attack.
The assailant was overpowered at the Super U store in Trèbes, which is about 8 miles southeast of Carcassonne.
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb identified the suspect, as Redouane Lakdim, a 26-year old who acted alone.
"He was known for petty crimes. We had monitored him and thought there was no radicalisation," Collomb told reporters.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe earlier called the incident "a terrorist act," and the Paris prosecutors' office said an anti-terrorism investigation had begun.
The killings began at 10:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. ET) when Lakdim attacked and stole a car, leaving the passenger dead and the driver injured.
As he drove away, Lakdim came across four riot police officers who were out jogging. He fired at them, wounding one in the shoulder, before taking hostages in the nearby store where he killed two more people.
Police then shot and killed Lakdim after storming the supermarket, Collomb said.
Collomb hailed an "act of heroism" by a lieutenant-colonel in the national gendarmerie who exchanged places with a female hostage inside the supermarket. The lieutenant-colonel was seriously injured.
Trèbes is about 60 miles from Artigat, the small town where Syrian-French cleric Olivier Corel founded an Islamist movement suspected of inspiring previous terror attacks in France.
Corel has been investigated before, including after Mohamed Merah fatally shot Jewish teachers and students and French soldiers in March 2012, but never convicted. He has always denied any involvement in terrorism.
Nancy Ing reported from Paris, and Alastair Jamieson and Saphora Smith reported from London.
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