Video: Knife-wielding man fatally shot by police in Corsica after Taser fails
Abdullateef Fowewe
A 26-year-old Belgian man, Muhamed Gueye, was killed by French national police in the heart of Ajaccio on Saturday, following a tense street confrontation on the bustling Cours Napoléon.
Video: Knife-wielding man fatally shot by police in Corsica after Taser fails
Eyewitness videos captured Gueye walking erratically along the palm-lined thoroughfare, brandishing kitchen knives and threatening shopkeepers and passersby. As he advanced rapidly toward officers, police shouted repeated warnings and deployed a taser—known in France as a “pistol emitting electrical impulses” (PIE)—in a bid to subdue him non-lethally.
The device failed to stop his advance.
An officer then fired live rounds, striking Gueye fatally on the spot amid parked vehicles, including a gray pickup truck.
One officer suffered a minor hand injury in the skirmish, but no civilians were hurt.
The street was swiftly cordoned off, with Gueye’s body covered by a cloth as forensic teams began their work.
The incident, unfolding in a busy shopping area, was documented in social media clips showing officers positioning behind cars during the pursuit and Gueye’s awkward movements just before the shooting.
These align with early footage of the otherwise calm scene.
France’s Ajaccio Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the sequence of events, and the IGPN—the national police oversight body—has opened an investigation into the use of force.
