Paris, February 14, 2026 – A gendarme was attacked with a knife and scissors on Friday evening, February 13, near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The assailant, Brahim Bahrir, 47, was neutralized by law enforcement and later succumbed to his injuries. The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has taken over the case.
Attack on a Gendarme at the Arc de Triomphe
The incident occurred on Friday, February 13, in the late afternoon, when a man armed with scissors and a knife attacked a gendarme on the Place de l’Étoile. The military officer, a musician from the mobile gendarmerie, was not injured as the knife struck the collar of his overcoat, according to information from the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office, which has opened an investigation into attempted murder.
The assailant was neutralized by another gendarme and did not survive his injuries. According to police sources, the individual, identified as Brahim Bahrir, born in 1978, approached a Gendarmerie vehicle of the Republican Guard on the central median of the Arc de Triomphe at precisely 6:09 p.m. He reportedly told a female gendarme that he would not harm women before turning his attention to a gendarme seated in the front passenger seat, attempting to stab him twice. The gendarme managed to evade the attack, and his colleague fired his service weapon four times, hitting the assailant three times – twice in the abdomen and once in the leg. A knife, a pair of scissors, and the suspect’s phone were recovered at the scene. Brahim Bahrir was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital, where his death was confirmed at 8:45 p.m.
Assailant Previously Convicted of Terrorism
Brahim Bahrir was known to the police and had a history of terrorist-related offenses. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison by the Brussels Court of First Instance on June 25, 2013, for “attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise” against three police officers, prohibited carrying of weapons of war (Category A), and armed rebellion. These acts were committed in Molenbeek on June 8, 2012.
On that day, following a week of clashes in Belgium involving law enforcement and radical Islamists, Brahim Bahrir traveled from Île-de-France, where he resided, to Brussels via Thalys. Hours later, as three police officers conducted a routine check in a Molenbeek metro station, he rushed at them, drew a knife, and stabbed two of them (a man and a woman), causing minor injuries. Considered close to the Islamist movement, he stated he wanted revenge against the Belgian government for banning the wearing of the niqab in public and demanded the departure of “infidels” from Afghanistan. He was on the “S” watchlist (a French security watchlist for individuals considered a threat to national security).
During his trial, his lawyers argued that it was not an act of terrorism and that he did not intend to kill the officers, but their arguments were rejected by the court, as reported by the Belga news agency. Brahim Bahrir, who was immediately arrested, “carried papers reproducing statements identical to those made by Sharia4Belgium,” a radical Islamist group active in Belgium, according to the investigation.
Release from Prison and Surveillance
After being incarcerated in Belgium, Brahim Bahrir was transferred to France on January 27, 2015, following a decision to recognize the enforceability of the Brussels Court of First Instance judgment. After serving his sentence, he was released from detention on December 24, 2025. Since then, he had been under judicial supervision ordered by the sentence enforcement court on June 17, 2025, as stated by the Pnat on Friday evening.
Since his release, the 47-year-old, residing in Aulnay-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, had been subject to an individual administrative control and surveillance measure (Micas), requiring him to report daily to the police station.
Assailant Announced His Intentions
On Friday, February 13, Brahim Bahrir had announced his intentions. According to our information, at 5:44 p.m., during a call to the Aulnay-sous-Bois police station, he stated: “I warn you, I’m going to shoot someone armed, you shouldn’t have killed our wives and children, we’ll see who triumphs under the Arc de Triomphe, I’m in Paris, I’m coming to the Champs.”
Immediately, a notice was sent to the duty magistrate, who instructed the geolocation of his phone. At 6:07 p.m., the suspect was geolocated at 2 Avenue de la Grande Armée, near the Champs-Élysées. Searches on his mobile phone allowed investigators from the anti-terrorism unit of the judicial police to locate him in the Grande Armée sector, near the Place de l’Étoile. It was there that he planned to attack military personnel, as the ceremony for the rekindling of the Flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was taking place under the Arc de Triomphe at that time.
Source: TF1 Info
