French railway security agents fatally shot a 35-year-old Haitian illegal immigrant earlier this week after he brandished a knife and threatened to kill children who were nearby.
The incident took place in the town of Ermont-Eaubonne in the department of Val-d’Oise on Wednesday and saw the 35-year-old brandish a knife near a group of children at a local recreation centre.
According to a report from the broadcaster France Info, the incident had been caught on video and showed the migrant approach the children while an adult attempted to shield them from him and two railway officers drew their firearms.
Police stated that the man allegedly yelled “Kill me, or I kill the children!” as he approached them. Officers opened fire, mortally wounding him.
Audrey Wagner of the Alliance 95 union commented on the incident, saying that the officers “considered that there was an imminent danger to the children or even to the individual, so they used their weapons five times and hit the individual.”
Prior to the shooting, the 35-year-old had been approached by railway security at the Ermont-Eaubonne train station while brandishing a knife, but the Haitian managed to flee from the officers.
A source close to the investigation claimed that the man, who came illegally to France in 2019, is well-known to police for drug offences and other cases of violence.
The case comes several years after another immigrant from Africa not only threatened a bus full of children in Italy, but attempted to set them on fire.
African migrant Ousseynou Sy, 47, was arrested in March of 2019 after he spayed liquid over a bus full of 51 children and set the bus on fire.
Just over a dozen of the children were injured but none lost their lives in the incident, due to quick reactions from Italian carabinieri officers.
Over a year later in December of 2020, a 37-minute video of Sy was released that revealed his hatred of Italy and Italians, who he referred to as racist for allegedly allowing migrants to drown in the Mediterranean Sea.