A top French official says a suspect has been killed in a shootout with police in Strasbourg, but hasn’t been confirmed as the alleged gunman who killed three people near a Christmas market on Tuesday.

The official, who could not be named because the operation was ongoing, said the suspect opened fire on police Thursday night, and police responded, killing him.

A local police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said the man who opened fire was armed with a pistol and a knife.

The shooting occurred in the Neudorf neighborhood, where police conducted a search earlier Thursday for Cherif Chekatt, a 29-year-old born in Strasbourg who police named as the suspected Christmas market gunman.

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