STRASBOURG, France • The man authorities say killed three people near a Christmas market in Strasbourg died Tuesday in a shootout with police at the end of two-day manhunt, French authorities said.

Paris prosecutor’s office, which handles terror cases in France, formally identified the man killed in the eastern French city as 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt, a Strasbourg-born man with a long history of convictions for various crimes, including robberies. Chekatt also had been on a watch list of potential extremists.

The news came a couple of hours after Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said a man believed to be Chekatt had been gunned down during a police operation in the city’s Neudorf neighborhood.

Castaner said the suspect opened fire on police Thursday night when officials tried to arrest him.

“The moment they tried to arrest him, he turned around and opened fired. They replied,” Castaner said. Over 700 officers were deployed to find Chekatt.

Police officers patrol the streets Thursday in front of flowers to pay respects to the victims after an attack in Strasbourg, France.

the associated press