the very disturbing profile of a “possible criminal backpacker”

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A man, arrested Tuesday November 12, 2024 on a train in France, is suspected of having killed a Moldovan homeless person in Lyon in hitting with a cinder blockbut also to have carried out similar attacks in other cities in France, as well as in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

He presented himself during his arrest in Toulon, in the south of France, as a 32-year-old Cameroonian who was the subject of an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF)according to a police source.

Involved in other violence in France

In addition to the murder of the homeless man in Lyon, the police are questioning their role in several attacks carried out with a similar “mode of operation” in other cities in France, as well as in Rotterdam.

Tuesday evening, the railway police were called in after the attack on a young woman on board a train traveling in the south of France. Its author was arrested at Toulon station.

After checking the file of wanted persons, the investigators realized that the man was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a French investigating judge and he was placed in detention, according to the public prosecutor's office. Toulon.

This warrant targeted an attempted homicide committed on October 23 in the forecourt of a Parisian suburban station, where a sleeping man had been hit in the face with a concrete block.

Initially hospitalized with a life-threatening condition, the injured man was ultimately given a total incapacity for work for 45 days.

DNA analyzes underway in Lyon

A murder was committed in the same way in Lyon, where 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 video surveillance camera had filmed a person striking him in the head at least once.

Analyzes, notably DNA, are underway to verify whether the man arrested in Toulon is indeed the author of this assassination, according to Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran.

Wanted by authorities in the Netherlands

The arrested person is also “suspected of being involved in the attempted murder of a 37-year-old homeless man” on November 5, near the Old Port of Rotterdam, Dutch police said in a press release.

In a wanted notice, published on the internet after this attack which plunged the victim into a coma, the Dutch police released an image of a black man, wearing dark clothes and orange lace-up shoes.

On a video captured by a surveillance camera and posted online, we see him carrying a sort of slab on his head which he then throws towards a man lying on the ground.
The suspect was then located on board an international train heading to Belgium, according to Dutch police.

Disturbing cases in Dijon and Strasbourg

In Dijon, in eastern France, in July, a 42-year-old woman, who was not homeless, was also attacked by an individual who hit her with one or more stone blows to the head, according to the prosecutor. The victim's ITT was set at 10 days.

In Strasbourg, an investigation was opened following the attack on a homeless person on October 30. The victim was initially hospitalized with a life-threatening prognosis, but his life is no longer in danger, prosecutor Alexandre Chevrier said in a press release.

In 2023, at least 735 homeless people died in France, according to figures published at the end of October by the Collectif Les Morts de la Rue, which specifies that “a significant part of the deaths” escapes it. Although the cause of death remains unknown in more than half of the cases recorded, 5 to 6% are due to an attack.

Nearly 300,000 people were homeless in France, including around 40,000 homeless, according to a report from the Court of Auditors published in early 2021.

AFP

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