A phone call and a scare. On Thursday, around 5 a.m., a nurse at the Sainte-Anne hospital (Paris XIV) receives a very alarming call. On the other end of the line, a man says he wants to end his life at the Lariboisière hospital (Paris X) “taking as many people as possible” with him. He punctuates his threats by repeatedly shouting “Allahou akbar.”
The emergency call platform of the police prefecture takes the situation seriously and the night service of the Paris metropolitan area sends patrols to the vicinity of the Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) to stand guard at the various hospital entrances. Police officers also scan the area streets. At the same time, law enforcement officers try to geolocate the call.
Surveillance in public transports
Around 6 a.m., the caller is located through cell phone tracking. He is in… 350 km away, in the city of Poitiers (Vienne), to be precise. Local police are contacted and are not surprised. They are familiar with this man described as a “repeat offender.”
The public prosecutor is alerted, and since the suspect is not in Paris, the security measures around the Lariboisière hospital are lifted. However, information and a description of this man are transmitted to the transport police in case he intends to travel to Paris.
Earlier, on Wednesday evening, a man making incoherent statements and also shouting “Allahou akbar” while attempting to strangle one person and hitting another was arrested at the corner of Boulevard de Belleville and Rue des Couronnes (Paris XX). He had also tried to steal knives from a butcher’s shop. Upon being apprehended, he was taken to the psychiatric infirmary of the police prefecture (I3P) after an initial examination.
