Gunman shoots police officers in Paris; ISIS takes credit

A known extremist opened fire on police officers late Thursday on the Champs-Élysées boulevard in Paris, officials said. One officer was killed, others were wounded, and a foreign tourist was hurt.

Within hours, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which came just days ahead of a tense presidential election.

Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press that the attacker targeted police guarding the area near the Franklin Roosevelt subway station at the center of the avenue.

Police shot and killed the attacker, who was apparently known to authorities and had been flagged as an extremist.

French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation. In the early hours of Friday, authorities searched a home in a suburb of Paris believed to be the gunman's residence.

Police have not publicly named the attacker, but ISIS said in a statement that his name is Abu Yousef Al-Baljiki, "The Belgian," and called him "one of the Islamic State fighters."

The U.S. State Department said on Twitter that American citizens should avoid the area of the shooting and follow directions from law enforcement.

Police and soldiers closed the streets and subway stations near the site of the shooting. Security was already ramped up because of a series of terror attacks in recent years, but perhaps even more so because of the election.

With the Associated Press and Fox News