A German tourist was killed and two other people were injured on Saturday evening in Paris in a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower, where the alleged perpetrator, a Frenchman known for radical Islamism and psychiatric disorders, been arrested, according to police and judicial sources.
French justice has opened an investigation into assassination and attempted assassination.
The assailant, a Frenchman born in 1997, stabbed to death a man of German nationality born in 1999, and injured two others a few hundred meters from the Eiffel Tower. He was arrested and placed in police custody as part of the investigation entrusted to the Paris criminal brigade, said the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Aged around twenty, the alleged perpetrator, known for radical Islamism and psychiatric disorders, shouted “Allah akbar” at the time of the incident, according to a police source.
He had already been sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for wanting to take violent action, said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin who held a press briefing on site.
The deceased victim is a German tourist, according to Mr. Darmanin. The two injured are a Frenchman, aged around sixty, and a foreign tourist, whose nationality was not specified, who was injured with a hammer, he said.
“We will not give in to terrorism,” responded French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne.
“My thoughts are with the victim, the injured and their loved ones. I salute the courage and professionalism of our law enforcement and our mobilized emergency services,” the head of the French government wrote on X.
“Paris is in mourning”
Joseph S., 37, manager of a supermarket store, witnessed the scene from a bar. He heard screams and people shouting “help, help” and running left and right. He described a man “with a hammer in his hand” attacking a man who had fallen. Still according to this witness, in “5-10 minutes”, the police arrived.
“Paris is in mourning after this terrible attack,” tweeted Clément Beaune, the French Minister of Transport on X. “Thoughts and solidarity with the families and loved ones of the victims. Thank you to our security and rescue forces for their rapid and decisive intervention,” he added.
The attack comes less than two months after that in Arras, in the north of France, which cost the life of a teacher in mid-October and led to the Vigipirate security plan being raised to the maximum “emergency attack” level.
Saturday’s modus operandi is reminiscent of previous attacks in the French capital.
In May 2018, a Franco-Russian born in Chechnya killed a passerby with a kitchen knife after a fierce struggle. The attacker attacked around ten people and injured four before being shot dead by the police. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.
In February 2017, an Egyptian attacked soldiers from Operation Sentinel on duty at the Carrousel du Louvre, very close to the Louvre Museum in Paris, with a machete, shouting “Allah Akbar”. He was sentenced in June 2021 in Paris to 30 years in prison.
A few months later, in October 2017, in Marseille, a man was shot dead after attacking passers-by with a knife, killing two people, two cousins aged 20 and 21, one of whom was studying in Lyon. The attack was claimed by Daesh.