A man, arrested Tuesday evening on a train in Toulon, is suspected of having killed a homeless man in Lyon by hitting him with a concrete block, but also of having seriously injured a homeless person in Rotterdam and of having committed three other homicides and attempts, in Evry, Dijon and Strasbourg. He presented himself during his arrest as a 32-year-old Cameroonian subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF), according to a police source.
Homeless people as main victims
According to another source, he only attacked homeless people and the known crimes spanned the last few weeks. Tuesday evening, the railway police were called after the attack on a young woman on board a train. Its author was arrested at Toulon station. “After checking the file of wanted persons, they realized that he was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge in Evry”specifies the Toulon prosecutor Samuel Finielz who adds that the man was placed in detention and that “measures will be taken so that he is transferred to the ordering investigating judge”or towards Evryl.
DNA analyzes in progress
Analyzes, particularly of DNA, are now underway to determine whether he is indeed the author of these crimes, according to another judicial source. In Lyon, a homeless man of Moldovan nationality was discovered dead Monday morning with a large wound on his head, a bloody concrete block next to him. A CCTV camera filmed someone hitting him in the head. An investigation into murder has been opened. On the night of November 4 to 5, a homeless man was attacked in the same way in Rotterdam. The scene was also filmed. In a wanted notice, published on the internet, the Dutch police released an image of a dark-skinned man, aged around thirty, wearing a black raincoat, blue pants and shoes with orange laces. “This man seriously injured a homeless person this week with a large tile“, she wrote. He was then located on board an international train heading to Belgium. After the arrest in Toulon, the Dutch police clarified “investigate whether this is the suspect linked to the Rotterdam attack”. “At this stage we cannot confirm this”declared its spokesperson Janine Tuinfort to AFP.
A woman injured in the head in Dijon last July
In Dijon, the public prosecutor's office estimates that depending on the modus operandi, it could also be the attacker of a 42-year-old woman on July 25, 2024 in the Toison d'Or district. An individual had hit him several times with a stone on the head. The victim had 10 days of ITT.
