what we know about the knife and hammer attack at Lyon station

Three people were injured, one seriously. The suspect was arrested and taken into custody. The Minister of the Interior thanked “those who controlled the author of this unbearable act”.

A man suspected of stabbing three people on Saturday February 3 in the Gare de Lyon in Paris was arrested and placed in police custody. An investigation into attempted murder has been opened. At this stage, the attack is not “a terrorist act”, specified the Paris police prefect. Laurent Nuñez, who went to the scene late in the morning, added that the suspect “suffers from psychiatric disorders”. Franceinfo summarizes what we know about this attack, which occurred less than six months before the Paris Olympic Games, in a tense security context.

Four passers-by violently attacked

Saturday, at 7:35 a.m., according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, a man attacked “to station users using a knife and a hammer”declared Laurent Nuñez. “The first elements, which remain to be confirmed, would reveal that the accused first set fire to his backpack, before seizing a knife and a hammer [pour] attempt to strike a passer-by who managed to avoid them”reports the Paris prosecutor’s office, which communicated new elements to the media on Saturday afternoon. It was at that moment that “three passers-by”Who “would have intervened”have been “injured by knife and hammer blows”.

“He was walking calmly and suddenly he hit one person, a second, he ran after the third”testifies Gisèle, employee of a store in hall 3 of Lyon station, on franceinfo.

“We didn’t even have time to be afraid, the man didn’t scream.”

Gisèle, witness to the attack

on franceinfo

The suspect was arrested by a security agent, said the Paris prosecutor’s office. Laurent Nuñez greeted “the responsiveness of a certain number of people who were present” and especially “users who intervened alongside Suge”the SNCF railway police, which made it possible to arrest “very quickly” the man in question.

Two travelers and a security guard injured

The attack left three people injured – one serious and two minor. The vital prognosis of the most seriously injured person, a man hit in the abdomen, remains uncertain, declared Laurent Nuñez. According to him, the person concerned was “in the operating room” and his condition had deteriorated “stabilized” late morning. A police source told France Télévisions that the victims were two travelers, as well as the security agent who tried to disarm the attacker. The Paris police chief also mentioned a fourth person “very shocked” – this is probably the passer-by who managed to avoid the suspect’s blows.

On Saturday evening, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced that one of the injured people, who had been hit in the left hand, had been released from hospital. “On the other hand, the other two, including the victim with a vital prognosis, remain hospitalized,” specifies this same source.

A suspect suffering from psychiatric disorders

The man arrested is “in the hands of the direction of the judicial police of the police headquarters, which was seized by the Paris prosecutor’s office”, declared Laurent Nuñez. At this time, his motives are not known. According to the prefect, the suspect “clearly suffers from psychiatric disorders” : he has some “spontaneously” reported to investigators. Laurent Nuñez reported that“a certain number of medications which prove that he is actually under treatment” were found on him. According to information from franceinfo, this man, of no fixed address, did not wear religious symbols. “It seems to us that we know him, that he is collecting in the station”says Gisèle, witness to the attack.

Born in 1992, the suspect is a man of Malian nationality, according to sources close to the investigation to franceinfo. The Paris police chief specified that this person was “in a regular situation in Italy since 2016, with a title issued in 2019, completely valid”. This title allowed him to travel to France legally. “A number of documents” Who “suggest that this individual arrived from Italy” were found on him. He thus had an Italian driving license and residence permit, according to police sources and a source close to the case. “The hearings are continuing and the examination of his mental state will be carried out”said the Paris prosecutor’s office on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening, the prosecution announced that his police custody was lifted “following the behavioral examination”, his psychiatric condition being “incompatible with the constraint measure”. “He is therefore currently being cared for by the psychiatric infirmary of the police headquarters. specifies the Paris prosecutor’s office.

The terrorist trail ruled out at this stage of the investigation

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into attempted murder. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) told AFP that it was under observation. The Paris police prefect calls for caution when qualifying the facts, because “at this stage, there is no element” which amounts to a terrorist act. “We will see if the terrorist trail is definitively ruled out or not”underlined Laurent Nuñez.

“I am waiting for all light to be shed on the circumstances of this tragedy”reacted Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region, on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

Several political figures, such as Eric Ciotti, the boss of the Republicans, or Sandrine Rousseau, environmentalist deputy from Paris, brought their “support for people under attack”. Most also thanked the security forces for their action. For his part, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, thanked “those who overpowered the perpetrator of this unbearable act.”