Panic unfold throughout the Paris metro on Friday afternoon after a 25-year-old man carried out three knife assaults towards girls on line 3 inside simply half-hour. The assaults occurred at completely different stations earlier than the suspect fled the scene. All three victims had been calmly injured, and one in all them was pregnant.
First assault on line 3
The primary assault came about shortly after 4:00 p.m. on metro line 3, which connects Bagnolet to Levallois-Perret. For causes which can be nonetheless unknown, the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed a feminine passenger earlier than leaving the scene.
Arts-et-Métiers and Opéra focused
A couple of minutes later, the suspect struck once more on the Arts-et-Métiers station, stabbing a second girl earlier than fleeing as soon as extra. Inside half-hour, he carried out a 3rd assault on the Opéra station, injuring one other feminine passenger.
CCTV footage led to identification
After the third assault, the suspect escaped by way of metro line 8. Police launched an instantaneous manhunt. In keeping with the Paris prosecutor’s workplace, officers from the regional transport safety unit (SRT) reviewed surveillance footage, permitting them to rapidly establish the suspect. His cell phone was additionally tracked, main investigators to his residence.
One sufferer was pregnant
Authorities confirmed that not one of the three girls suffered life-threatening accidents. Two victims had been stabbed within the again and thigh. One in every of them was pregnant. A witness on the République station described seeing “plenty of blood” and mentioned the wound appeared severe.
Terrorism dominated out
Police sources said that the potential for a terrorist motive was rapidly dominated out. Investigators imagine the assaults had been carried out by a mentally unstable particular person slightly than being terror-related. The suspect is thought to police for earlier offences, together with property-related crimes.
Suspect arrested in Sarcelles
The suspect, a 25-year-old man born in Mali, was arrested at his house in Sarcelles, within the Val-d’Oise division, shortly earlier than 7:00 p.m., round two hours after the final assault. In keeping with police sources, he was in an irregular immigration state of affairs and had beforehand been positioned in a detention centre between July and October. A number of makes an attempt to deport him had failed.
Inside Minister praises police
France’s Inside Minister Laurent Nuñez praised the speedy response of the transport police items, highlighting their “distinctive data of the terrain” and the essential position performed by the metro’s video surveillance community.
