BREAKING: gunman leaves 1 officer dead, 2 wounded in Paris – ISIS takes responsibility

In an apparent terrorist attack, a gunman on the historic Champs-Elysées avenue in the center of Paris has opened fire at police officers, killing 1 and wounding 2 others.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.

France 24 reported that the home of the dead suspect was being searched. Champs-Elysées had been closed down after the attack.

Further details:

The officer who was killed in the attack was shot while in a police car waiting at a red light by an attacker driving by, a police union representative said on Twitter.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told AP that the attacker targeted police guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt metro station at the center of the avenue, shortly after 9pm Paris time.

A French Interior Ministry spokesman said they could not exclude the possibility that there was more than one attacker. It was too early, he said, to determine the motive behind the attack, however, French anti-terror prosecutors are investigating the shooting.

The 11 candidates in France’s presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday, were in the middle of a televised debate when the attack occurred.

Conservative establishment candidate François Fillon, who is trailing in polls, called for the election to be postponed in “solidarity” with the police.

This is the latest in a string of terror attacks by Islamic-inspired assailants which have struck France since the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre.