A man shot dead at a Paris airport after grabbing a soldier's gun had earlier opened fire on police officers at a road check.

Here is a timeline of how events unfolded.

:: Three police officers pull over a vehicle for speeding in Stains in the north of Paris at 6.55am local time.

A man /opens fire, "lightly" injuring one officer in her head.

:: Gunman shoots officer before Paris airport attack


:: The gunman flees and later hijacks a woman's car at gunpoint in the Vitry area. The vehicle was found abandoned near Orly, the capital's second largest airport.

Airport shooting 'was complete panic'

:: At 8.30am a man attempts to take the assault rifle of a soldier at the airport.

She was patrolling as part of the national 'Sentinelle' security operation, launched following deadly terror attacks in the country.

:: Defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says the woman managed to hold on to the weapon and that her two colleagues shot him dead.

:: An image shows the man, said to be in his 40's, lying on his back on the floor of the terminal building.

:: Thousands of people were evacuated from the airport during the security lockdown and flights diverted to Charles de Gaulle airport.

:: Bomb squad teams swept the airport to check for explosives, but nothing was found.

Security lockdown after Paris airport shooting

:: Police sources revealed the dead man was as "a radicalised Muslim known to intelligence services and the justice system".

:: The father and brother of the man killed have been taken into custody

:: France's anti-terrorism prosecutor opens an investigation into the incident.

:: The suspect is named as Ziyed B by local media.

:: Diplomats confirm the visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Paris will continue unaffected.

:: The country, which holds presidential elections in a few weeks time, remains on high alert after a series of deadly terror attacks and a state of emergency remains in force until at least the end of July.