At least two people have been killed in the shooting that broke out at midday local time at a Kosher grocery shop in Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, where at least five people are being held hostage, a source close to the investigation tells AFP.
"There are at least two dead, maybe more but for the moment we don't know," the source says.
Gunshots were heard at the shop called Hyper Cacher near the Porte de Vincennes.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve headed to the site as police forces in the Seine-et-Marne region, 26 miles north of Paris, continued to encircle the two suspects of the Charlie Hebdo attack that left 12 people dead on Jan. 7.
The Montrouge gunman has ties with the two suspects, French police said.
“There can be copycat acts that we have to do all we can to prevent,” French President Francois Hollande said earlier.
French police and prosecutors couldn’t immediately be reached on the Porte de Vincennes attack.