Convicted killer goes on knife attack in France, is gunned down by police

PARIS — Police in the south of France shot and killed a man Tuesday, shortly after he stabbed three people and pulled a gun on responding officers, authorities said.

The attacker had once spent 14 years behind bars for killing his father, and Tuesday’s deadly confrontation is not being considered an act of terrorism, French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told France Info radio.

The knife attack happened in the center of Marseille at 4:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), French national police told NBC News.

All three stabbing victims are expected to survive their wounds, officials said. A fourth person suffered a shrapnel wound.

After the 36-year-old man stabbed three pedestrians, officers approached him and he dropped the knife, officials said. But then the attacker pulled a handgun and shot at officers, who returned fire, fatally wounding him, authorities said.

The officers were not hurt.

Ing reported from Paris and Li from New York