From France 24
French police on Tuesday killed a man suspected of stabbing at least five people in the southern port city of Marseille, one of whom is in “critical condition”, a public prosecutor said.
The attacker was a Tunisian national with legal status in France who stabbed the manager of a hotel that had just evicted him for non-payment, prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters.
The suspect also attacked the manager’s son, another hotel guest – who suffered the most serious injuries – and two passers-by on the street during his “criminal rampage”, Bessone said.
Officers intervened and killed the man, said a police source, asking not to be named.
A resident who saw the incident told AFP the suspect tried to stab officers as they attempted to arrest him.
Another eyewitness told AFP the man was holding “two large butcher knives”.
The French Press (le Parisien) and English language international press (Reuters, BBC) are concentrating on the eviction for the unpaid bill motive for the crime. However less formal French sources give his name, Abdelkader D, that he was known to the police, and that he shouted Allahj Akbar as he stabbed. The police obviously thought he was dangerous enough to take out on the spot. Video of the police operation here
With the defendant dead there will not be a trial so the public may never find out whether he was part of a gang, a lone wolf or merely suffering from Islamic derangment syndrome when asked to pay. Some of his victims are seriously ill; pray for them, or whatever alternative you do that the Holy Spirit will interpret as prayer.
Update: The Telegraph now has a report
the man began reciting verses from the Koran before rushing towards them (the police) and ignoring their orders to drop the weapons, according to Le Figaro.
An interior ministry source told The Telegraph that no motives had yet been ruled out but that “we must remain cautious over whether this is terror-related”
