The day after a knife attack which left six injured, including four children, Thursday in Annecy (Haute-Savoie), the state of the alleged perpetrator was deemed compatible with police custody, learned franceinfo, Friday June 9, from a source familiar with the matter. His police custody has been extended, prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis announced on Twitter. Follow our live.
Emmanuel Macron at the bedside of the victims. The President of the Republic went to the Grenoble University Hospital (Isère), where several victims of the attack are located, on Friday morning. He will then go to Annecy and meet Friday afternoon “the man with the backpack”, a 24-year-old walker who helped scare the assailant away.
Four children and an adult “in a state of absolute emergency”. The vital prognosis of three injured, two children and an adult, is engaged, while the condition of the victims is stable, according to the prefecture of Haute-Savoie. The Annecy prosecutor, Line-Bonnet Mathis, clarified that“a 22-month-old, two 2-year-olds and a 3-year-old” were among the victims. A sixth person was also injured. “I am closely monitoring the state of health of the victims, their condition is stable”said the Prime Minister on Friday, during a trip to the Bouches-du-Rhône. “All the injured children were able to be operated on”added Elisabeth Borne.
The suspect has not yet been interviewed. The individual arrested after the attack is still in police custody, which has been extended, and must undergo a psychiatric examination Friday morning. He is a Syrian asylum seeker, born in 1991 and who entered France legally in November 2022. He is “very slightly” injured according to the Annecy prosecutor’s office. The suspect spoke in English the words “In the name of Jesus Christ” before attacking children in a playground, according to a video of the attack seen by franceinfo.
>> Knife attack in Annecy: what do we know about the man arrested?
Investigation opened for assassination attempt. There is “no apparent terrorist motive”, said the prosecutor of Annecy, Thursday during a press conference. The suspect, who had no known psychiatric history, did not have “no criminal record”, also specified the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, Thursday evening on TF1.
Emotional reactions. The political class reacted after the tragedy in Annecy. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne expressed “all the support and all the solidarity of the nation”. The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, spoke of a “serious attack”. The president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, spoke on Twitter about‘”dread and horror”. “Our heart is in pieces having to live it. To the children our painful affection. To the parents all our afflicted compassion”, for his part, wrote on Twitter the leader of La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.