A police officer was attacked with knives in front of the central police station in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), Monday, November 8, by a single man who was neutralized by gunfire. Arrived on site around 11 am, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, delivered the first elements of the investigation into this attack.
>> DIRECT. Cannes: the suspect had “no criminal record” and was unknown to the intelligence services, announces Gérald Darmanin
An attack in front of the police station
The facts occurred around 6:30 am this Monday morning, reported Gérald Darmanin. “The four policemen were in the car, they were going to take their duty”, detailed the Minister of the Interior. A lone man approached the police vehicle that was parked in front of the central police station in Cannes, “to request information”. He opened the driver’s door and put him “several stab wounds” to the thorax.
The man then walked around the vehicle to attack the captain who was sitting in the front, in the passenger seat, but two other crew members, including “a young peacekeeper” said the minister, prevented him from doing so by using their service weapons, seriously injuring the man.
“These are two police officers who were stabbed and rescued by their bulletproof vests, a young police officer and the policewoman in charge of the crew. The policewoman was stabbed in the back. a lot of violence, with the will to kill them “, estimated on Franceinfo Monday David Lisnard LR mayor of Cannes.
No police officer injured
The weapon used by the assailant, however, failed to penetrate the bulletproof vest of the targeted police officer. “It is in a courageous and professional way that the police officers responded and saved the life of their comrade”, welcomed Gérald Darmanin, who clarified that the suspect was “between life and death”.
At the end of his press briefing, the Minister of the Interior was to meet the four police officers targeted by this attack, “very affected psychologically but not physically”, did he declare. According to the deputy departmental secretary of the SGP Police Unit union, Jean-Luc Bragato, this crew was made up of “an experienced flight attendant in her forties and three young people with an average age of 26-27”.
The unknown police suspect
In front of the press, the Minister of the Interior gave more details on the profile of the suspect. He is a man of Algerian nationality, who frequently traveled between France and Italy, where he had a residence permit. The 37-year-old suspect learned franceinfo from police sources was “regularly present on the national territory”, Gérald Darmanin said. He had recently applied for a residence permit in France, which the authorities had not granted him.
Arrived in Italy via Sardinia in 2008, he had settled in Naples in 2011 where he became a traveling merchant, a source close to franceinfo said. It was there that he obtained an indefinite residence permit in Italy. According to the same source, he had been making regular trips back and forth between France and Italy since 2016.
The investigation entrusted to the PJ of Nice, the anti-terrorism prosecution “remains an observer”
An investigation was opened for attempted assassination of a person holding public authority. According to the first elements of the investigation, when he stabbed the police officer, the attacker allegedly said he was doing it. “in the name of the Prophet”. The Minister of the Interior was very cautious about a possible terrorist motive, refusing to qualify the facts.“[Le suspect] has no criminal record and was not known to the police. He was not listed in any of the radicalization files “, developed Gérald Darmanin.
The investigation, entrusted to the judicial police of Nice, will try to provide details on the motivations of this man. “There is no investigation opened by the Pnat [Parquet national antiterroriste], who remains an observer “, said the Minister of the Interior, while a police source had previously indicated that the track “terrorist was considered”.