The knife attack, which left One dead and another injured on Wednesday evening in Bordeaux, followed a dispute over alcohol consumption between the victims and the assailant shot dead by police officers who accused them of drinking during Eid , the prosecution confirmed on Thursday. “No element militates in favor of a terrorist attack,” clarified the public prosecutor of Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie, during a press conference.
The perpetrator is of Afghan origin and aged 25, according to initial information from the European asylum seekers database which remains to be verified. According to another Source in the file, the man, whose identification is still in progress, obtained the right to asylum in 2021.
He would have previously had a first similar altercation with other individuals, also mentioning Eid, a holiday which marks the end of Ramadan for practicing Muslims, according to the magistrate.
Two investigations were opened, one for “murder” and “attempted murder”, the other to examine the circumstances in which the police shooting was carried out. According to the magistrate, who entrusted this second investigation to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the state of self-defense is “considered” in view of the first elements collected.
Victims from Algeria
Wednesday evening, at 7:30 p.m. on the banks of the Garonne popular with walkers, the attacker first insulted the two victims, from Kaous, a village in the north-east of Algeria, “for reasons linked to consumption of alcohol”. Then he “hit them with his fists”, according to testimonies collected by investigators.
The two men – one homeless, the other hosted by a migrant aid association – “threw cans towards their attacker. The suspect returned with a switchblade knife and stabbed them in turn,” added the prosecutor.
One of the two victims, aged 37, died from nine stab wounds, including four in the chest wall. The second, aged 26, has three stab wounds, but her life is no longer in danger. Heard in the morning, this man declared that the attacker, whom he did not know, “approached his friend then attacked them, accusing them of drinking, when it was the Eid”.
“Concurring testimonies”
A witness alerted the police and a team arriving on site, near the stone bridge, a few hundred meters from the scene of the attack, “asked the accused to throw his weapon several times,” said the police. prosecutor.
“When the latter changed direction and headed towards them, knife in hand with a threatening attitude, the police officer used his weapon,” an HK G36 assault rifle, “to neutralize the attacker,” before noting the death shortly after, around 8:10 p.m. “The consistent testimonies” of several people heard by the investigators “allow us to establish” that the police officer fired after having made “the usual summons,” said the magistrate.
Earlier in the evening in the same area, the suspect had also “attacked” two other individuals “because they were drinking rosé on an Eid day”, hitting them, then “showing a knife” before continuing his path. According to the Bordeaux prosecutor, “the PNAT (national anti-terrorist prosecution) remains in a position of evaluation until all light is shed on the exact motives” of the suspect.
(afp)
