- Title: French anti-terror inquiry finds signs of radicalisation of Paris knife attacker
- Date: 5th October 2019
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 3, 2019) (REUTERS) POLICE OFFICERS WALKING TOWARDS ENTRANCE OF POLICE PREFECTURE FOLLOWING KNIFE ATTACK INSIDE BUILDING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BEING EVACUATED FROM BUILDING FORENSIC POLICE ARRIVING PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 5, 2019) (REUTERS) FRANCE'S ANTI-TERROR PROSECUTOR, JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE'S ANTI-TERROR PROSECUTOR, JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, SAYING: "The developments of the investigation allowed us to unveil correspondences among the assailant and several individuals who possibly belong to the Salafist Islamist movement. Also, several accounts allowed us to shed light on the fact the assailant allegedly adhered to a radical vision of Islam. This leads, at this stage and according to several accounts, to the following elements: first, his approval of certain statements made in the name of this religion; his desire to no longer have any contact with women; his justification, made towards a colleague, of the attacks committed in the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in (January) 2015; and finally, the change in his style of clothing that dated back to a couple months ago, with the individual abandoning all Western clothing for traditional attire to go to the mosque." PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PHOTO (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE'S ANTI-TERROR PROSECUTOR, JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, SAYING: "The total duration of this murderous trip has been estimated at around seven minutes, between his arrival at his office at 12:53 p.m. and his neutralisation at 1 p.m. The assailant has been quickly identified as Mickael, H., born on September 18, 1974 in Martinique. This individual suffered from deafness corresponding to meningitis. He has converted to Islam around 10 years ago, according to accounts." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE'S ANTI-TERROR PROSECUTOR, JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, SAYING: "We have to say that the recovery of his cell phone shed light to very important elements. This woman (assailant's wife) and her husband exchanged 33 text messages on the morning of the incident, between 11:51 a.m. and 11:55 a.m. During these exchanges, the assailant expressed statements that are exclusively religious, which ended with these two expressions: 'Allahu Akbar' ('God is great' in Arabic) and then 'Follow our beloved prophet Muhammad and think about the Koran.' We have noticed that these text messages, although they are not explicit regarding the planned act, had been sent only 30 minutes before he obtained the knives." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRANCE'S ANTI-TERROR PROSECUTOR, JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, SAYING: "It's under these conditions that the counter-terrorism unit, after a rigourous and deep examination of each of the gathered elements, the majority of which were obtained yesterday, has identified the need to take over this case." RICARD LEAVING PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 4, 2019) (REUTERS) FRENCH FLAG TIED WITH BLACK RIBBON AT POLICE PREFECTURE POLICE AND PEOPLE OUTSIDE PREFECTURE POLICE OUTSIDE PREFECTURE SIGN FOR POLICE PREFECTURE
- Embargoed: 19th October 2019 15:51
- Keywords: prefecture prosecutor France stabbing knife attack investigation Paris police attack anti-terrorism
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZTLGLJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: France's anti-terror prosecutor said on Saturday (October 5) its investigation had detected signs of radicalisation of the knife attacker who killed four co-workers in Paris this week.
The 45-year-old, who had worked for several years at the police headquarters where he carried out the attacks, had converted to Islam about ten years ago, anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said on Saturday.
At lunchtime on Thursday (October 3), the attacker, identified by authorities as Mickael H., went on a rampage that spanned two floors of the Paris police headquarters building, killing three police officers and an administrative worker, and wounding at least one other, before being shot dead.
The "murderous trip" lasted for seven minutes, between 12:53 and 1 p.m., Ricard said.
The attacker's wife on Thursday was taken into police custody but not charged.
The man had exchanged 33 text messages with his wife ahead of the attacks, all of which were of a religious character, Ricard said.
In the past four years, the French capital has been rocked by major attacks resulting in mass casualties. Co-ordinated bombings and shootings by Islamist militants in November 2015 at the Bataclan theatre and other locations around Paris killed 130 people in the deadliest attacks in France since World War Two.
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