The victims are to be in a serious condition following the incident in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally reported that there were four people injured in the attack.
Police confirmed that an incident was in progress at the Richard Lenoir sector of the French capital and advised residents to avoid the area.
Two suspects have been been arrested in connection to the attack.
French media reported that the suspect was arrested on the steps of the Opera Bastille at around 12:45 p.m. local time. A second suspect was also arrested near the Richard Lenoir metro station.
Deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire had earlier tweeted that police were hunting a “potentially dangerous” individual while advising people to avoid the area.
Police cordoned off an area including the former Charlie Hebdo offices after a suspect package was also noticed nearby, reported The Associated Press. However, it was later found not to contain any explosive device.
In January 2015, 12 people were killed in a terrorist attack after the satirical magazine published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The magazine republished the controversial cartoons earlier this month ahead of the trial of 14 people accused of assisting two gunmen who carried out the massacre.
In an editorial, the magazine said they had been asked many times to publish images of the Muslim prophet, which is forbidden in the Islam religion, after 2015, but decided the start of the trial was the time to do so.
“We have always refused to do so, not because it is prohibited—the law allows us to do so—but because there was a need for a good reason to do it, a reason which has meaning and which brings something to the debate,” it said.
“To reproduce these cartoons in the week the trial over the January 2015 terrorist attacks opens seemed essential to us.”
It is unclear if today’s incident is connected to the republishing of the cartoons.
This week, the magazine’s director, Laurent “Riss” Sourisseau, revealed she had been forced to leave her home after receiving death threats.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex confirmed that he had cut short a visit he was making in Seine-Saint-Denis, north of Paris, in the wake of the attack.
