French police chief fatally stabbed over dangerous dog ban, report says

Police investigate at the site where Pascal Filoe was stabbed to death. (AFP)

A French police chief was fatally stabbed Thursday, allegedly by a man who previously threatened cops after being banned from owning an unregistered Pitbull, reports said.

Pascale Filoe, the head of security in Rodez -- a small city about 93 miles northeast of Toulouse -- was stabbed three times early Thursday and died in a hospital shortly after from his injuries. He was a father of three.

The unnamed suspect was arrested and placed in police custody.

“He had his hands full of blood, it’s awful that it could happen on the street!” a witness told La Depeche du Midi. “He looked so calm and serene when he was arrested.”

Mayor Christian Teyssedre told reporters the suspect was known to police for having defaced the city hall door in April, Sky News reported.

Local reports say the suspect has previously threated Teyssedre and Filoe after his dog, a “category one [attack] dog” was recently taken from him.

France’s Interior Minister, Gerard Collomb, said in a tweet that he shared “the pain of the people of Rodez after the vile attack that targeted the head of their municipal police.”

“My first thoughts go to his family & his relatives,” he continued. “Support to his shocked colleagues and national police officers who immediately arrested the individual.”