Three people were injured, one of them seriously, on Saturday, February 3, in the Gare de Lyon in Paris, during a knife attack. This attack happened early on Saturday morning. Among the victims, the assailant seriously injured a man with a knife to the abdomen and two blows with a hammer to the head. According to the public prosecutor’s office, his prognosis is still “engaged” on Saturday evening. Another person who was less seriously injured is also in hospital, while a third person, who was injured in the hand, has now been discharged. The public prosecutor’s office indicates that the three victims were simply “passers-by” who had “interposed” themselves.
The attacker, of Malian nationality, has “a regular situation in Italy since 2016, with a title issued in 2019, which is entirely valid,” according to the documents in his possession, had previously said the prefect of police in Paris, Laurent Nuñez, at the scene of the attack. This title allowed him to travel to France entirely legally. According to the identity papers he presented, he was born on January 1, 1992, according to a source close to the matter. He was unknown to both French and Italian police. “This individual clearly suffers from psychiatric disorders,” then added the prefect during a press briefing, and “medications” were found on him. This would explain the early termination of his custody, while the public prosecutor’s office had initially judged his condition to be compatible with questioning, after an initial medical examination.
Some elements that allow the terrorist track to be kept at a distance. Especially since “no signs of religiosity” were identified in him. But caution is still required at this stage of the investigation, as Laurent Nuñez points out. “We will see if the terrorist track can be ruled out,” he adds, as the investigators are interested in a TikTok account – opened in the name of the assailant – which remains to be authenticated, according to information from AFP.
However, it is already intriguing due to statements expressing resentment towards France, in connection with the French military intervention in Mali. In another video dated December 2, 2023, the author of the account writes: “R.I.P. in three months, may Allah welcome me into his paradise”. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office is still observing this case for the moment. However, the investigation continues while waiting for a new hearing of the suspect with the hearing of witnesses and the exploitation of video surveillance and telephony, as the public prosecutor’s office specifies.
