What could have triggered such fury? The day after the attack that occurred on Friday in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), we know more about the circumstances of what could have turned into a tragedy. The motives for the attack, however, remain mysterious.
It was around 12 p.m. this Friday, October 18, when the day got out of hand in this apartment located on the sixth and top floor of a building on rue du Moulin des Bruyères. A quiet artery in this modern district of Courbevoie, on the edge of Bois-Colombes where residential buildings and business premises mingle.
An 18-year-old man gets angry and he takes action from words. He brandished a knife in front of several members of his family. He attacks the two young women in particular, both his half-sisters. The moments that follow are somewhat messy but he retreats into the apartment. Now alone in the accommodation, he then goes to the balcony.
In the minutes that followed, firefighters and police officers arrived in large numbers on the scene. While the firefighters install a mattress on the ground to limit damage in the event of a jump, an intervention column from the Hauts-de-Seine Operational Support Group stands ready. It is this unit which assists the police forces during high-risk arrests.
When the green light is given, the police enter the home and manage to control their target. The young man was slightly injured by shards of glass during the operation.
The toll is much heavier for his loved ones. At 21, his half-sister, the oldest, was seriously injured. Declared an absolute emergency, she was taken under motorized escort to the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris, with a vital prognosis. Also a victim of beatings, the other young woman aged 19 and the two boys aged 9 and 10 are shocked. They too were hospitalized.
