Three people, reportedly including a pregnant woman, were injured on Monday morning in Paris after a man went on a stabbing spree in the French capital.
UPDATE 1330: The mayor of the local 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard, has confirmed on X that one of the victims in the apparent stabbing attack was pregnant. Le Parisien reported that the victims are 19, 24, and 36 years old.
Despite the attacker reportedly claiming that he was motivated by “Allah”, the case is not currently being treated as a terror incident. A source close to the investigation told Le Parisien: “The guy said Allah sent me to kill women. But no, he’s crazy.”
The original story continues as follows…
According to a report from the Parisien newspaper, three women were attacked in the street by a knifeman near the Porte de Clichy metro station in northern Paris on Monday. The paper asserted that one of the three victims was pregnant at the time of the attack.
A separate report from Le Figaro stated that two of the victims are currently in critical condition, while the third is in serious condition.
“They were taken care of by emergency services and transported to the hospital,” a Paris police prefecture spokesman stated.
Le Figaro said that an off-duty police officer had witnessed a man with two knives attacking a pedestrian. He is said to have called for backup and eventually apprehended the suspect.
The paper cited footage circulating on social media, which appeared to show the suspected knifeman being held down by multiple people. In the video, he is reportedly heard saying: “Allah commanded me”.
Le Parisien reported that the suspect is a 31-year-old male. No further information on his background has been made public at the time of this reporting.
The paper claimed that the suspect “apparently does not have all his mental faculties”.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that he is remaining “very cautious about the motive of this violent act,” claiming that the suspect was heard “uttering incoherent statements”.
The stabbing spree comes just two days after one woman was killed and 29 people were injured as a vehicle was driven into crowds of revellers at the annual LGBTQ+ Pride Parade in Berlin on Saturday in what the government has characterised as an Islamist terror attack. The suspect, Lebanese-heritage Abdul Ballut, 21, was shot and killed by police on Sunday after a 20-hour manhunt in the German capital.