Police shoot suspect who attacked officer with hammer outside Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral

PARIS, France -- Paris prosecutors have opened a counterterrorism investigation after an unidentified assailant attacked police with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb says the attacker cried "it's for Syria" as he went after officers patrolling an esplanade in front of the famous landmark.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the investigation was opened Tuesday soon after the attack. The attacker was shot and wounded in the incident in one of France's most popular tourist areas.

Speaking after the attack, Collomb said police found kitchen knives, a hammer and other unsophisticated weapons on the wounded assailant.

It was the latest of several attacks in France targeting security officers. In April, an attacker opened fire on a police van on Paris' Champs Elysees, killing one and gravely wounding two others. The attacker was shot dead by police.

Several hundred people were held inside Notre Dame Cathedral after a man went after officers patrolling outside the Paris landmark.

Kellyn PotVin-Gorman, an American tourist visiting Paris from Colorado, tells The Associated Press she was at the front of the line to enter the cathedral when she saw panicked people running in every direction on Tuesday afternoon.

PotVin-Gorman says she heard three gunshots before seeing the attacker, dressed in a blue jacket and blue jeans, lying on the ground about 30 meters (100 feet) outside the cathedral.

She says many ran toward a nearby subway station, but a crowd also pushed past her to try to get inside the cathedral.

The 49-year-old said she was being held with her husband and about 500 others inside the landmark, where many prayed and the mood is somber.

Lawrence Langner, a 73-year-old American visiting the neighborhood just across the Seine River from the cathedral, told The Associated Press that he suddenly heard a commotion and two detonations like gunshots.

Journalist David Metreau, who said his office overlooks the square, tweeted that there were two blasts that sounded like shots, and posted a photo of a body lying seemingly inert on the ground.

Paris is under high security after a string of Islamic extremist attacks in recent years.

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