Three other people were killed and several others injured in the attack, which roiled the country that has borne the brunt of Europe's recent struggle with terrorist violence

Arnaud Beltrame, 44, a lieutenant colonel in the French police, succumbed to his injuries early Saturday.

"France will never forget his heroism, his bravery, his sacrifice," French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb wrote in a tweet confirming Beltrame's death.

The violence began Friday morning when the gunman hijacked a car near the southwestern town of Carcassonne and then shot at a group of four national police officers returning from a morning jog, wounding one of them. He then drove to the nearby town of Trèbes, not far from Toulouse, where he stormed into a supermarket, opened fire and held employees and customers hostage for several hours.

By midafternoon, police had shot and killed the gunman, Collomb announced.

In addition to Beltrame, a person in the hijacked car was killed, as were two other people at the supermarket.

Collomb identified the gunman as a 26-year-old local petty criminal and drug dealer who was a native of Carcassonne.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he considered the incident to be a terrorist attack and on Saturday called on the French to remember Beltrame and "honor his memory."