A driver plowed into pedestrians and cyclists on a French holiday island of Ile d'Oleron, near Bordeaux, on Nov. 5, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has said.
Nunez said the motorist struck several people in the towns of Saint-Pierre-d’Oleron and Dolus-d’Oleron.
“Multiple accidents occurred in Saint-Pierre and Dolus,” he wrote. “They were caused by someone deliberately causing these accidents.”
According to Brechkoff, nine people were affected and were treated by French emergency services.
Local officials set up a crisis center to coordinate emergency efforts, and all services were “mobilized to manage the situation,” Brechkoff said.
Local authorities identified the suspect as a 35-year-old man who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is Greatest,” as police detained him, according to prosecutor Arnaud Laraize, who spoke to the regional newspaper Sud Ouest.
It reported that police subdued the man with a stun gun before detaining him at the Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron gendarmerie.
The suspect has been taken into custody and an investigation has been opened, Nunez said, adding that he was traveling to the scene at the request of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Commenting on the incident, the mayor of Saint-Pierre-d’Oleron, Christophe Sueur, told BFM TV that he had no further information about reports that the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar.” Sueur said the man has no known psychiatric history.
“When I saw the vehicle with the front completely torn off, with a real intention to ram—as he did several times—I think he was fully aware of what he was doing,” he said.
Sueur added that the island community is typically calm and far removed from national security concerns.
“We’re an island that’s not at all affected by those issues of radicalization. But honestly, I think that today in France, wherever we live, anyone could one day be affected by this kind of problem. And really, it’s not only in Paris where things like this can happen—they can happen anywhere. And that’s what worries me,” he said.
According to regional newspaper La Charente Libre, the suspect—identified only as Jacques G.—was a resident of La Cotinière and “known for his erratic behavior fueled by alcohol and drugs,” said Sueur.
The mayor told the paper that the man had been known to local authorities for disruptive conduct. After striking several pedestrians, the driver fled in his Honda Civic, which he later set on fire during his arrest, local officials said.
“The horror unfolded on the Ile d'Oleron where an individual deliberately rammed into several bicycles and pedestrians,” Lavalette said on X. She offered condolences to the victims and their families.
However, Olivier Falorni, the region’s deputy in the French parliament, said the motive for the attack on a quiet island popular with summer tourists remained unknown, saying the suspect was not on a watchlist of radicalised individuals.
“We’re dealing with an individual who lives on the island, and the victims also live on the island,” Falorni told reporters at the National Assembly in Paris. “Is this a settling of scores? Or an Islamist attack? I have no idea. Is there a political motive? Is it someone mentally unstable who snapped?”
