Six stabbed in Paris practice station, attacker shot by police 12 hours in the past

The Paris prosecutor stated investigators haven’t but been capable of determine the attacker who wounded six individuals with a pointy metallic hook within the French capital’s Gare du Nord practice station on Wednesday earlier than being shot and wounded by police.

The suspect attacked a number of individuals, together with a police officer, through the morning rush hour “with no obvious motive at this stage,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated in an announcement.

Beccuau stated that the assailant was present process surgical procedure at a hospital after being shot twice within the chest and as soon as in the proper arm. Investigators haven’t been capable of interrogate him given his situation, she stated.

The identification course of was nonetheless persevering with as a result of the suspect was registered beneath a number of identities in a fingerprint database based mostly on his declarations in earlier instances involving him, suggesting he might be born in Libya or Algeria, the assertion stated. He’s about 20 years previous.

The assertion described his weapon as a “metallic hook from which the longer half ends in some extent.”

The victims are two males, ages 36 and 41, three ladies ages 40, 47 and 53, and a 56-year-old police officer, Beccuau’s assertion stated. Solely the 36-year-old man remained hospitalized on Wednesday night with non-life-threatening accidents, it stated.

French Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin, who went to the positioning earlier within the day, thanked police “for his or her efficient and brave response.”

“With out the extraordinarily speedy intervention, there would certainly be deaths,” he stated, detailing how the suspect was neutralized inside one minute of attacking his first sufferer.

“At 6:42, the primary acts have been described. At 6:43, the police used their administrative weapon after his passage of violence,” he stated.

Darmanin stated the attacker’s weapon was doubtless a do-it-yourself weapon. He stated the suspect was reported to not have stated something through the assault and that investigators haven’t found any extremist hyperlinks.

In line with Beccuau’s assertion, the preliminary investigation discovered that the suspect threw himself upon a person in entrance of the practice station, stabbing him about 20 occasions.

The assailant then entered the station and attacked 4 civilians and a police officer, French media studies stated.

Screams alerted two different law enforcement officials who intervened whereas the suspect was attacking the officer. The officer for France’s border guard was stabbed within the again however not critically wounded due to a bulletproof vest, Darmanin stated.

Police opened an tried homicide investigation. No particular motive has been decided by authorities. France stays jittery following a spate of lethal terror assaults since 2015.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, requested for Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres’ response to the Paris stabbings, stated: “We condemn wholeheartedly this assault and name for a really swift investigation into this incident.”