Three wounded in knife attack at major Paris train station

February 3, 2024

From AFP via the French edition of The Local

Three people were injured Saturday in a knife attack at Paris’s Gare de Lyon railway station, a major travel hub, police said, adding that the suspect had been arrested.

The detained man, whose nationality was not revealed, (except it has now, according to Le Figaro he is Malian ie from an African county 95% Muslim) went on a stabbing spree at around 8:00 am (0700 GMT) at the station, which serves domestic trains as well as those heading to Switzerland and Italy.

“The suspect did not cry out (any religious slogans) during his attack,” a police source said. “He presented the police an Italian driving licence”.

According to Le Figaro the individual arrested, the alleged perpetrator of the attack, is of African type and “certainly of Malian nationality”, even if he presented an Italian driving license. He was armed with a knife and a hammer.

The individual allegedly assaulted the three victims while remaining silent throughout the events, then set fire to his backpack, before being arrested by the National Police’s Railway Brigade. He is said to have psychiatric disorders and is 32 years old.

All three victims were admitted to hospital. No life-threatening prognosis is involved

The intelligence directorate of the police prefecture is in the process of screening the profile of the alleged perpetrator of the attack. “It’s a profile halfway between a tramp and a person with psychiatric disorders,” a police source told our journalist Christophe Cornevin.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said it was under observation.

Le Figaro is updating frequently. The Guardian is describing the victims as ‘light wounds’ which sounds i) like a Monty Python sketch and ii) like something which they hope can be swept under the carpet. The authorities are going to need a bigger carpet.

The French Transport Security Group, Surete RATP, has a picture of the weapons.

The man arrested is named as Kossogue S

Latest from le Figaro

Contrary to what first police sources told Le Figaro and AFP, the victim who was wounded in the abdomen is finally in a life-threatening condition, and is currently in the operating room, police prefect Laurent Nuñez has just announced.