Paris: A man who was holed up in a post office in a suburb northwest of Paris with two hostages on Friday surrendered and has been arrested, a police source said.
"There was no assault, the man gave himself up", the source said, adding that the hostages were "shocked but not injured".
The gunman who had taken three people hostage at a post office in Colombes was reportedly armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, a gun and numerous grenades, French RTL radio reported.
The assailant was known to police as a petty crime suspect. Officers secured the perimeter and a helicopter was deployed to the area of Charles-de-Gaulle boulevard where the post office is situated.
Newspapers Le Figaro and Le Monde reported that the man was equipped with a military weapon. "He phoned number 17 [the French emergency number] saying rambling things," a source said, adding that no shots had been fired.
The hostage-taker “is disappointed in love”, local prefecture told Liberation newspaper, adding that the hostage taker is a customer “who lost his head” and speaks of “heartbreak.” Sources told AFP that the man was "speaking incoherently".
Video of Police at scene of reported hostage situation in #Colombes #Paris. via @dariospagnolo http://t.co/gCKQJs0dWf pic.twitter.com/HZCqiVpj9A
— Sara Firth (@Sara__Firth) January 16, 2015#ParisHostageStituation video via @dariospagnolo #Colombes area around the post office cordened off http://t.co/vx7Tpbg8fO @ibnlive
— Joel Samuel (@joel__Samuel) January 16, 2015
