the man killed Tuesday by the police “certainly” suffered from psychiatric disorders, according to the prosecutor

The man armed with knives killed by a municipal police officer in Saint-Etienne after threatening passers-by on Tuesday, November 26, and slightly injuring a woman, was suffering “most certainly” of psychiatric disorders, communicated the Saint-Etienne prosecutor, David Charmatz, who evokes a “ episode of psychiatric decompensation ». The magistrate adds that “no terrorist connotation was highlighted in the attacker’s journey”.

This 31-year-old resident of Saint-Etienne was “released from detention last May, after having served more than five years in prison” for various cases of violence or damage to property, explains the prosecutor.

During the night from Monday to Tuesday, the man himself called the emergency services and the police around 1:30 a.m. “for suicidal tendencies and a state of aggressive crisis”specifies the magistrate, but “he unfortunately fled when they arrived and did not return to the family home”.

Investigation into fatal shooting of police officer

Late Tuesday afternoon, a municipal police officer used his service weapon to “two times” on this man who chased pedestrians in a shopping street in Saint-Etienne. He then held an elderly woman with a knife to her throat, who was slightly injured. The man died from his gunshot wounds.

A little earlier, according to a police source contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP), he had first entered a store declaring that he was going “wreak carnage on the Christmas market” of Saint-Etienne, without alluding to any religious motive. The man was not known to the intelligence services, according to a police source at AFP.

Two investigations were opened by the Saint-Etienne public prosecutor's office: one to understand the background of this man, the other for murder regarding the fatal shooting of the police officer. The police officer responsible for the shooting was released from custody during the night. His hearing, the testimonies collected as well as the videos from surveillance cameras ” watch[nt] that this police officer used his weapon in self-defense of others”underlines the prosecutor.