Paris’s Notre Dame evacuated after man shoots himself dead

A man shot himself dead Tuesday in front of the altar of Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral, forcing the evacuation of the French capital’s famed tourist spot, police told AFP.

The man, in his 70s, committed suicide with a pistol some time after 1400 GMT, investigators said. Police had earlier said he was in his 50s.The cathedral was in the process of being evacuated, police said. It was not immediately clear how many people were inside the building at the time of the incident.

It was the second dramatic suicide in less than a week in Paris, after a 50-year-old man with a history of family problems shot himself dead Thursday in a primary school near the Eiffel Tower, in front of about a dozen stunned children.