Terror Inquiry Opened After Knifeman in France Kills 2

Terror Inquiry Opened After Knifeman in France Kills 2
Police officers investigate after a man wielding a knife attacked residents venturing out to shop in the town under lockdown, in Romans-sur-Isere, southern France, on April 4, 2020. (AP Photo)
The Associated Press
4/5/2020
Updated:
4/5/2020
PARIS—A man wielding a knife attacked residents of a French town while they ventured out to shop amid a nationwide lockdown over the CCP virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, on Saturday, killing two people and wounding five others in an act that led authorities to open a terrorism inquiry.

France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said the assailant was arrested near the scene of the attack in the town of Romans-sur-Isere, south of Lyon on Saturday, as he was kneeling on the sidewalk praying in Arabic. It said one of his acquaintances also was detained.

Prosecutors did not identify the suspect. They said he had no identifying documents but claimed to be Sudanese and to have been born in 1987.

During a subsequent search of his home, authorities found handwritten documents that included arguments about religion and a complaint about living in a “country of unbelievers,” officials said.

The prosecutor’s office did not confirm reports that the man shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as he stabbed and slashed people.

Police officers gather after a man wielding a knife attacked residents venturing out to shop in the town under lockdown, in Romans-sur-Isere, southern France on April 4, 2020. (AP Photo)
Police officers gather after a man wielding a knife attacked residents venturing out to shop in the town under lockdown, in Romans-sur-Isere, southern France on April 4, 2020. (AP Photo)

Like the entire population of France, Romans-sur-Isere’s residents have been ordered to stay home except for a few exceptions. The victims were doing their food shopping, one of the permitted outside activities, on the street that has bakeries and grocery stores, the prosecutor’s office said.

French media reported that the knifeman first attacked a man who had just left home for a daily walk—slitting his throat in front of the victim’s girlfriend and son.

Next, the assailant went into a tobacco shop, stabbed the tobacconist and two customers, and then went into the local butcher’s shop, according to French news reports.. He grabbed another knife and attacked a customer with the blunt end before entering a supermarket, the media said.

By Thomas Adamson
Epoch Times staff contributed to this report