A Knife-Wielding Man Has Been Shot Dead Trying to Attack a Paris Police Station

This is a breaking story, please check back for updates.

A man was shot dead at a Paris police station on Thursday afternoon after allegedly trying to attack officers in the reception with a knife.

The man shouted "Allahu Akbar" and may have been wearing a suicide belt, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said on BFMTV. But he told France Info it was "much too soon" to call it a terrorist act.

One officer was wounded, reported Le Parisien, which said according to its sources the belt was fake. A source also told Le Figaro newspaper that the device contained no explosives.

A photograph purporting to show a large knife on the ground near the police station appeared on Twitter. Le Figaro said it was a zoomed-in section of a photograph originally posted by the New York Times.

#Paris Un gros couteau abandonné devant le commissariat https://t.co/VcCczyIjJc pic.twitter.com/tOxCsUhWTk

— Le Soir (@lesoir) January 7, 2016

A bomb squad was sent to check the potential of the purported suicide vest and secure the area, reported Le Figaro. The surrounding neighborhood was cordoned off and two schools were closed.

Riot police would be sent to all Parisian schools, said a police source.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve will visit the police station, in the 18th district of the city.

The incident took place on the anniversary of last year's deadly Islamist militant attacks on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine in the French capital. Two masked and armed men stormed the magazine's offices on January 7, 2014, killing 12 people, including four main cartoonists.

Watch VICE News' exclusive interview with Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Luz:

Follow VICE News on Twitter: @vicenews