At least one person is believed to have been killed Friday after a gunman reportedly claiming allegiance to the Islamic State militant group fired shots in a supermarket during an apparent hostage situation in the southwestern French town of Trebes.

“We unfortunately presume one person has been killed, but we cannot bring a doctor on site to check,” said regional police chief Jean-valery Letterman.

National police said law enforcement authorities had surrounded the suspect at the supermarket and may have taken hostages.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said investigators are treating the situation as a terrorist act.

“All the information we have as I speak led us to think that this would be a terrorist act,” Philippe told reporters.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism authorities had assumed control of the investigation but did not explain why.

Philippe said that one police officer had been injured but that his life was not in danger.

France has been on high alert after being hit with a series of Islamic State extremist attacks since 2015 that have killed more than 200 people.

 
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