On the light garland, a sentence is written in white letters, underlined by a blue wave: “Villejuif wishes you happy holidays. “ It is a few meters away, on the other side of the A6 bridge, the “Autoroute du Soleil” separating the municipalities of L’Haÿ-les-Roses and Villejuif (Val-de-Marne), Nathan C. was shot dead by police on Friday, January 3, around 2 p.m. On the outskirts of a supermarket parking lot and a car garage, the scene was partially filmed by passers-by.
Knife in hand, dressed in a djellaba, the 22-year-old young man from the Paris region had just struck a few moments earlier in the Hautes-Bruyères park and its surroundings in Villejuif. A 50-year-old from this city was killed while trying to protect his partner from being beaten. Seriously affected and hospitalized, she is now out of danger. A third victim, a young woman in her thirties, was also injured, less seriously.
A vague profile and motivations
The assailant’s profile remains unclear, as are his motivations. Arrived at the scene two hours after the attack, surrounded by the prefect of police Didier Lallement, the prosecutor of Créteil, Laure Beccuau, and the boss of the national anti-terrorist parquet, Jean-François Ricard, the secretary of state to the minister of the interior, Laurent Nuñez, did not address this subject. Before forty journalists, he greeted ” the reactivity “ police from the Kremlin-Bicêtre anti-crime brigade, “Competent in this territory, which intervened very quickly and made it possible to neutralize the attacker immediately, undoubtedly preventing the continuation of a murderous journey. It’s an extremely courageous act. ”
Authorities, cautious, have not advanced on the possibility of an Islamist lead
Later in the day, the Créteil prosecution, which is leading the investigation, entrusted to the Val-de-Marne judicial police and the Paris criminal brigade, said that the police had found a bag in the park containing a bank card in the name of Nathan C. and “Several religious documents”. At least one witness told police on site that the assailant shouted “Allah Akbar”. But the authorities, cautious, have not advanced on the possibility of an Islamist lead, Mr. Nuñez is content to speak of a “Attack”. While the assailant appeared to be searching his clothes in front of the police, the deminers who arrived shortly after the attack did not find an explosive on him.
Nathan C. was undergoing psychiatric treatment and had been interned a few months ago. He was not known to the intelligence services and the Créteil public prosecutor’s office indicated that he did not have “No elements that would suggest radicalization”. Saturday morning, the anti-terrorist prosecution did not seize. According to a source familiar with the matter, “Several dozen witnesses” having crossed paths with the attacker on Friday were to be heard. A search was carried out at his family home in the 14e arrondissement of Paris, according to a police source.
In recent months, several stabbing attacks have raised questions about their possible terrorist nature. On December 13, 2019, a man with a knife was shot dead in the Defense district after threatening the police. Homeless and escaped from a psychiatric hospital, he rather presented an unbalanced marginal profile. On October 3, Mickaël Harpon, a computer scientist from the Paris police headquarters, had killed four officials with a knife bought the same morning. The national anti-terrorist prosecution was then seized to understand the radicalization of the murderer.
Five years after the terrorist attacks Charlie As of January 7, 2015, far from the caution of government and judicial authorities regarding the attack by Nathan C. on Friday, the far right has taken up the subject. “We are only at the beginning of the year, and already our country deplores a terrorist attack which left one dead and two seriously injured in Villejuif, tweeted the president of the National Rally, Marine Le Pen. Thank you to our security forces who neutralized what looks very much like an Islamist, with composure and determination. “
The town of Villejuif already bereaved in 2015
On the same social network, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron posted his “Support for victims of the attack” – without qualifying it – as well as their families and law enforcement. “We are resolutely continuing the fight against indiscriminate violence and our fight for the security of all French people”, he wrote.
The town of Villejuif had already been bereaved in April 2015, when a young woman, Aurélie Chatelain, was killed in her car, on the sidelines of a plan to attack two churches. “I invite all Villejuifois to testify to their unity, their support for the relatives of the victims and their absolute rejection of hatred”, reacted on Twitter the mayor (Les Républicains) of Villejuif, Franck Le Bohellec. He announced that the city’s flags would be flown at half-mast on Saturday.
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