A man, carrying a knife, was arrested Thursday after a gunshot in an Annecy-Paris train, which did not hurt, we learned from the Chalon-sur-Saône prosecutor’s office.
The man, aged around 30, was overpowered by a plainclothes policeman with whom he fought, the deputy prosecutor of Chalon-sur-Saône Angélique Depetris told AFP, specifying that during this fight, “a shot (was) fired”.
A woman on the train, Stéphanie Debord, explained to AFP that this man had seized the policeman’s weapon and fired, reporting on his side two shots.
Angélique Depetris announced that a judicial investigation had been opened for “attempted murder of a person holding public authority”.
The attack occurred near Le Creusot. The man was “placed in custody at the Autun research brigade,” said the deputy prosecutor.
“Thank you to the off-duty policeman who courageously intervened on this train to arrest a threatening individual,” tweeted Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
“Gratitude and recognition to the police officer who acted to control a dangerous individual on board the #TGV. Thank you to the #SNCF teams and the police for their responsiveness and composure; they protected all the passengers, ”reacted his transport counterpart, Clément Beaune, on Twitter.
“Completely haggard”
“After Mâcon station, an individual, who was at the entrance to the airlock, entered with hands full of blood. I said to the passenger behind me: ‘this guy is weird’” I noticed that he had broken the window of the train, which was in motion, with a hammer. He was completely haggard, elsewhere, ”said Stéphanie Debord, who was in car No. 2, in first class.
“The gentleman got up, he tried to control him, he got into a fight, punches, kicks. There were screams,” she said.
“There, a plainclothes policeman, who was going to Paris for July 14 and who was in car number 5, was called by the controller saying that apparently there was a problem in car 2. The policeman was in shorts and t-shirt, he had his gun on him. He tried to subdue the man, a foreigner, who spoke no French, and was beside himself. (The latter) took the policeman’s weapon and fired two shots, ”detailed the 49-year-old passenger.
“It was screaming. We all lay down between the seats, because we were afraid he would get into the car, he was less than ten meters away. I was on the line with my husband, he heard the shots on the phone, he said to me: “you stay on the ground, you don’t move”.
“They asked for belts from people who had them on them, we gave them three, four belts to try to master it, but it was very complicated, even if it was not thick. There was this policeman in civilian clothes and this gentleman from the SNCF, the passenger behind me, who was in civilian clothes and was going up to Paris. Thanks to them, we escaped a disaster, ”explained the passenger.
Passengers who expressed the need were able to benefit from psychological support, she said. The policeman “was requested by SNCF personnel under the “travelling-protecting” program set up last year. Thanks to this, the police have the possibility of benefiting from reductions or free travel on trains provided they are armed,” said Mr. Darmanin.
“The train being mobilized for the purposes of the investigation, a TGV came from Lyon to take care of the passengers, and this TGV left for Paris”, indicated for its part to AFP the SNCF, which “wants to thank the policeman for his intervention”.
2023-07-13 15:34:15
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