Paris: French police said Friday there was a link between a suspect identified in the fatal shooting of a policewoman south of Paris and the brothers wanted for a massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine.

"The recent and latest progress in the investigation has established a connection between the two shootings," a police source told AFP, calling for caution as they carried out their probe.

While France was reeling from the massacre of 12 people at the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine a day earlier by masked gunmen, a man in a bullet-proof vest carrying a handgun and automatic rifle on Thursday shot dead a policewoman and seriously hurt a city employee in Montrouge.

The victims had been called to the scene of a car accident.

Prosecutors initially said they had not yet linked the two incidents, but handed the probe to anti-terrorist investigators.

Police announced Friday they had identified the gunman in the Montrouge shooting.

"The suspect has been identified. Two people very close to him have been taken into custody," a police source said.