A man who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State fatally stabbed a French police commander and his wife in their home late Monday.
The brutal attacks took place around 8:30 p.m. local time at the couple’s home in Magnanville, northwest of Paris, according to an initial report. The man took the couple and their three-year-old child hostage.
Police raided the house around midnight and found the child alive. The infant was rescued and removed from the house.
Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, assistant chief with the judicial police at the nearby town Mureaux, sustained nine stab wounds. His wife, whose name was not shared, died from an undisclosed number of stab wounds.
Witnesses reported sounds of explosions when police raided the house and apprehended the attacker.
The killer was reported yelling “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) as he stabbed the policeman and during the takedown by police. He was fatally shot during the raid. The Islamic State’s Amaq news agency said the attacker was an “Islamic State fighter,” though the group itself has yet to claim responsibility.
The double-murder comes days after 49 people were fatally shot by an Islamic State-affiliated terrorist at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.
