Gunmen who holed up in a hairdressing salon, after robbing a Cartier boutique near the Champs Élysées and taking two hostages, gave themselves up to police after a brief but dramatic siege on Tuesday evening.
The hooded robbers came face to face with police after raiding the luxury jewellery store at about 6pm local time. Grabbing a member of staff, they left the shop firing into the air before abandoning their hostage and escaping on a scooter.
As armed police gave chase, the scooter crashed and the robbers, wielding a Kalashnikov assault rifle, fled on foot before taking refuge in a hair salon where they took the owner prisoner and exchanged fire with officers who had surrounded the building and sealed off the area.
Police said blood found on the scooter suggested one of the robbers had been injured.
At about 9pm, after a police negotiator spoke to them, the two gunmen released a male hostage, said by police to be the owner of the hair salon, and gave themselves up to officers.
Witnesses said they walked from the salon with their arms up.
François Molins, Paris public prosecutor, said a Kalashnikov and a knife had been found in the hairdressers as well as jewellery and money.
