Paris. The attacker of the knife attack on Friday near Paris has suffered from “mental disorders”, according to investigators. The prosecutor’s office said that evidence of a conversion to Islam had been found.
According to investigators, the authorities were not aware of the radicalization of 22-year-old attacker Nathan C. However, the police found “religious elements” in a bag near the crime scene that indicated a turn to Islam. The young man was previously known to the police only because of civil law offenses.
The 22-year-old had attacked several passers-by with a knife in a park in the southern Parisian suburb of Villejuif at around 2 p.m. One man was killed and two women injured. The attacker was shot while fleeing, according to the French police.
The attack claimed 1 dead and 2 injured
A man was killed and two women injured in a knife attack near Paris on Friday. The attacker was shot while fleeing, according to the French police. The motive was initially unclear. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said the knife had to take medication for mental health problems.
For this reason, he had been in the hospital in recent months. The police found a Koran in his pocket. “At this point, we have no indication that he was radicalized,” added the spokesman. The young man was previously known to the police only because of civil law offenses.
The 22-year-old had attacked several passers-by with a knife in a park in the southern Parisian suburb of Villejuif at around 2 p.m. On his “murderous journey”, the young man tried to attack more people, the investigating prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a joint press conference with State Secretary Laurent Nunez and the Paris police chief Didier Lallement at the scene. But you could have avoided him.
According to the mayor of Villejuif, the victim is a 56-year-old from the village. The man went for a walk with his wife when the attacker approached. “He wanted to protect his wife,” said Mayor Franck Le Bohellec. According to the public prosecutor, the two injured are the escort of the dead and another woman at the age of 30. A man had previously reported.
The attacker fled to the neighboring community of Hay-les-Roses, where he apparently wanted to continue his attack in a shopping center. Fortunately, the police were quickly on site and “neutralized” the attacker, said the Mayor of Hay-les-Roses, Vincent Jeanbrun, on BFMTV.
Secretary of State Nunez praised “the courage, efficiency and responsiveness” of the police, “which made it possible to neutralize the attacker immediately and prevent the undoubtedly murderous journey from continuing”.
Macron pledged assistance to victims
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his sympathy to the victims and their families on Twitter. The fight against “blind violence” is being conducted with determination. Villejuif is around ten kilometers from central Paris.
The act took place a few days before the fifth anniversary of the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. Twelve people were killed in the Islamist attack.
France has been hit by a series of attacks since 2015 that have killed more than 250 people. The attacks mostly had an Islamist background. The last time an administrative employee converted to Islam stabbed four police officers in the Paris police headquarters in October.
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