A knife-wielding man ran amok Friday in a park south of Paris, killing a man walking with his wife and wounding two other people before being shot dead by police, officials said.

The Paris police department said the man, identified as 22-year-old Nathan C., attacked "several people" around lunchtime in the suburb of Villejuif.

Police did not provide any potential motive for the attack
Police did not provide any potential motive for the attack AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT

Some managed to evade him but the man claimed at least one life -- that of a 56-year-old Villejuif resident, according to the town's mayor Franck Le Bohellec.

The victim "was walking with his wife when the attacker approached; he wanted to protect his wife" and was stabbed, the mayor explained.

A man stabbed passers-by at a park in a suburb south of Paris
A man stabbed passers-by at a park in a suburb south of Paris AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT

According to a source close to the enquiry, another man was seriously wounded and a woman sustained light injuries.

The assailant then fled to the neighbouring suburb of Hay-les-Roses, where he was shot dead by police.

French Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez (L) said police had arrested 'the continuation of a killing spree'
French Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez (L) said police had arrested 'the continuation of a killing spree' AFP / CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT

A picture sent to AFP showed a man in a long black garment lying on his back at an intersection.

"We heard screams, then we heard three shots," said Rouane Yazid, 40, the owner of a garage nearby.

SOUNDBITES The man who stabbed three people in a park in Villejuif "was immediately neutralised by the police" thanks to a "peculiar and perfect" description, while "he was still carrying his knife", explains the departmental head of the police union Alli
SOUNDBITES The man who stabbed three people in a park in Villejuif "was immediately neutralised by the police" thanks to a "peculiar and perfect" description, while "he was still carrying his knife", explains the departmental head of the police union Alliance Yoann Maras. AFPTV / David CANTINIAUX

"I went outside to see. Then there were five or six more shots and then sirens. We barricaded ourselves in the garage," he told AFP.

Map locating Villejuif near Paris where a man stabbed passers-by Friday
Map locating Villejuif near Paris where a man stabbed passers-by Friday AFP / STAFF

Several sources said Nathan C. suffered from "psychological problems."

He was not being tracked as a religious zealot, although "elements linked to religion" that "suggested he had converted to Islam," were found among his personal effects, the local prosecutor's office said.

The police have opened an investigation of murder and attempted murder.

The attack came just four days before France marks the fifth anniversary of the killing of 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris by two brothers vowing allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for the victims and said in a statement: "We continue to fight determinedly against senseless violence."

France remains on high alert after being hit by a string of attacks by jihadist extremists since 2015, with more than 250 people killed in total.

The day after the Charlie Hebdo attack, a man linked to the Islamic State (IS) group shot and killed a policewoman in a southern Paris suburb before taking hostages at a Jewish supermarket the following day, killing four more people.

Police eventually killed all three attackers but it was the beginning of the wave of strikes on French territory.

Interior ministry figures indicate that 60 attacks have been thwarted since 2013, the latest in September.

France's anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard was at the scene of Friday's attack, but the investigation remained initially under the authority of the Creteil prosecutor's office.