French authorities are refusing to confirm reports that Paris police have arrested a man over gun attacks in the city. A massive manhunt began after a gunman shot a photographer at a newspaper, before opening fire outside a bank.

One French newspaper claims the suspect has been arrested, but no other media outlets are reporting the arrest.

French police meanwhile say they have the DNA of the gunman suspected of carrying out the attacks.

Yesterday the shooter critically wounded a photographer at the offices of major daily newspaper Liberation. The photographer, who was arriving for his first day of freelance work at the newspaper, suffered wounds to his chest and stomach in the shooting on Monday.

After fleeing the newspaper's offices in the east of Paris, the gunman is believed to have crossed over to the western edge of the city, where he fired several shots outside the main office of the Societe-Generale bank. No one was hurt.

He then reportedly hijacked a car driven by a priest and forced him to drop him off close to the Champs-Élysées in the centre of the city.

Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that the suspected shooter was arrested in the seventh arrondissement of the city, but prosecutors on the case swiftly denied this.

Police also believe the gunman was behind an incident on Friday in which staff members at news television station BFMTV were threatened by a gun-wielding intruder.

In that incident, the gunman emptied several cartridges on the floor, while warning a senior editor "Next time, I will not miss you".

Investigators have so far been unable to identify the gunman - described as white and aged between 35 and 45 - and branded as a "real danger" by Interior Minister Manuel Valls.

Investigators have issued a new photograph of the suspect taken by a CCTV on Monday in Paris' central Concorde Metro station, near the Champs-Élysées.

Liberation executive Nicolas Demorand said the photographer was "still critical", although he was "in a slightly better state". The newspaper devoted four pages to the unprecedented attack and an employee described the moment the gunman walked in.

"The guy pulled out a gun from his bag and fired twice at the first person he saw" the staff member said.

"It lasted no more than 10 seconds, and anyone of us could have been hit. The shooter said nothing and left immediately".

CBS Paris Correspondent Elaine Cobbe says a wide manhunt has been underway.

Pictured above: An image of the man circulated by Paris Police