The motive for the attack is still unclear, but Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said that the suspect was in search of the police due to his affection for radical Islam and that he also suffered from mental problems.
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Darmanin said the attacked woman would survive despite serious injuries. He also noted that the suspect was a Frenchman born in France, about 40 years old and recently released from prison. Referring to its sources, the AFP agency wrote that he was convicted in 2015 of theft and kidnapping. After his release from prison, he was in the care of the authorities because he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
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Prison staff also registered him as radicalized for his strict respect for the rules of Islam and verbal provocations related to his religion, according to BFM TV. The man had a “hybrid profile, radicalized and very seriously mentally ill,” adds AFP.
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The attacker managed to take a service weapon from a police officer; he took it from the crime scene without using it immediately. He first used a car to escape, but later the police found crashed nearby. Police assume he continued on foot. About 250 police officers, including members of a specialized unit from Nantes, as well as a helicopter took part in the search for the suspect. While detained, the man began to attack the police again with a stolen police weapon, slightly injuring two police officers. Police returned fire and the suspect died on the spot.
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Several police helicopters were also prepared at the site of the attack.
Photo: Laetitia Notarianni, ČTK / AP
Darmanin said the incident was not currently being investigated by the French anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office. He added that he himself did not have the authority to label the act as terrorist.
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Election theme
According to Reuters, the fight against internal terrorism will probably be one of the main topics of the upcoming campaign ahead of next year’s presidential election. Far-right politician Marine Le Pen, who will be one of the strongest challengers to the current head of state, Emmanuel Macron, calls the current president weak on security and says the police need more protection.
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“I refuse to accept that attacks on police officers become part of our daily lives,” she wrote on twitter. “We must finally fight this barbarism and never, absolutely never get used to it,” she added.
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“My first thoughts are with a city police officer who has been seriously injured: She has all my support and the whole government is expressing her solidarity with her,” wrote French Prime Minister Jean Castex.
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Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti called on all judges to be strict in deciding on the attack on police officers. There have been several serious attacks on police officers in France recently. A police officer died at the hands of an Islamic radical after the attack on the commission at Rambouillet near Paris. The death of a police officer in Avignon, who intervened against drug dealers, also caused a stir.
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