Officer Killed in Paris Champs-Elysees Shooting Was a Responder to the 2015 Paris Terror Attack
The French police officer slain in Thursday night’s shooting on Paris’ Champs-Elysees was among the responders to the city’s Bataclan concert hall in the immediate aftermath of a horrific terror attack there in 2015 that left 90 dead.
Xavier Jugelé, 37, was killed after a gunman opened fire near a Marks & Spencer store on the famed boulevard in central Paris around 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. eastern) on Thursday, according to authorities.
Two other officers were injured, along with a bystander, according to the New York Times. The gunman was also killed.
ISIS has since claimed responsibility for the attack.
Before his death, Jugelé had said he was proud of Paris’ strength in the face of terrorism and joined the survivors of the 2015 attacks and their families at the November 2016 charity concert put on by Sting at the Bataclan - the first show since the historic venue reopened.
Speaking to PEOPLE at the time, Jugelé said, “I’m happy to be here. Glad the Bataclan is reopening. ... We’re here tonight as witnesses, here to defend our civic values. This concert’s to celebrate life. To say no to terrorists.”
He said the event felt “important” and “symbolic,” and he told PEOPLE that he had visited the Bataclan many times before it was attacked in 2015.
He was one of the many officers who responded to the scene that night, he said - “but outside.”
According to the Times, Jugelé had been a Paris police officer since 2010 and previously served in the Gendarmerie, a French national force.
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The president of Flag - an association of LGBT police officers in France - told the Times that Jugelé was a proud gay man who leaves behind a longtime partner.
“He was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the LGBT cause,” Mickaël Bucheron said. “He joined the association a few years ago, and he protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games.”
Bucheron added, “He was aware of the risks of the job and the terrorist threat, although we did not speak a lot about it. He was a great man and friend; it is a big shock for us.”
