Paris officer killed in terror attack was on duty for 2015 massacre

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The policeman gunned down on the iconic Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris in a terrorist attack has been identified as Xavier Jugelé by Flag!, a French association of LGBT police officers.

The group's president, Mickaël Bucheron, told The Associated Press on Friday that the slain officer would have celebrated his 38th birthday in early May.

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Jugelé was among the officers who responded to the gun and bomb attack on Paris' Bataclan concert hall in November 2015, part of a wave of assaults in the French capital that killed 130 people, the slain officer told People.com when the venue reopened a year later with a concert by Sting.

People.com quoted him as saying how happy he was to be at the "symbolic" reopening, "here to defend our civic values."

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He added, "This concert's to celebrate life, to say 'No' to terrorists."

Jugelé was sitting in a police vehicle when he was shot in the head during Thursday night's attack. Two other officers and a bystander were wounded. Police killed the gunman as he tried to flee. ISIS claimed credit for the attack.

“He was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the LGBT cause,” Bucheron said, according to The New York Times. “He joined the association a few years ago, and he protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games.”

Jugelé once helped police officers in Greece deal with the flood of migrants who had crossed the Aegean Sea and were seeking shelter in the European Union, The Times reported.

“He was aware of the risks of the job and the terrorist threat, although we did not speak a lot about it,” Bucheron said, according to paper. “He was a great man and friend. It is a big shock for us.”

The Times quoted Yves Lefebvre, general secretary of the police union, Unité SGP Police-Force Ouvrière, as saying that Mr. Jugelé had been known for his professionalism and as “an excellent colleague.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.