French police have apprehended a man accused of stabbing several pedestrians in Paris on Saturday night, murdering a German tourist and injuring two others in an apparent terrorist attack.
According to France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin, the suspect is a 25-year-old French national who had served four years in jail for plotting a violent crime. Following his detention, the suspected attacker allegedly expressed sorrow for the deaths of Muslims, particularly in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, claiming to believe that France was complicit. He allegedly said “Allahu Akbar” (God is magnificent in Arabic) during the attack.
A German couple was targeted by the assailant, who killed one of them with a knife and injured two more people with a hammer. The fatal attack took place in the French capital’s fifteenth district, close to the Seine river.
The minister provided a brief profile of the attacker, who was born in the Paris district of Neuilly-Sur-Seine, stating that he was under monitoring and receiving mental therapy when he was released from jail in 2020 after serving four years. Most recently, he was residing in the Essonne area, south of Paris, with his parents.
The minister praised the police for their prompt action and said that “there would doubtless have been other dead” after they stopped the assailant by twice using a taser on him in the stomach.
France has been on high alert for terror attacks since the fatal stabbing of a teacher in the northern city of Arras by a former pupil who had recently radicalized, last October. That deadly assault occurred three years after the death of another teacher outside of Paris, who was shot and killed by police after being decapitated by a radicalized Chechen.
Saturday’s attack comes only a few months to go before the much-anticipated 2024 Olympics, which will be held in the French capital
“We will cede nothing in the face of terrorism. Never,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on X, sending her condolences to victims and their families.
