Authorities have identified the man who allegedly stabbed several people, including 4 children, in a French playground as a 31-year-old Syrian refugee who reportedly shouted “In the name of Jesus Christ!”
The suspect, Abdelmasih Hanoun, a recently divorced father of an only child, underwent psychiatric evaluations after a harrowing attack that left a 3-year-old British girl, a 22-month-old Dutch girl and two French cousins, aged 2 and three, seriously injured. the London Times reports.
Two adults were also injured in the rampage, one of them a 78-year-old grandfather, who was hit by a shot fired by police while they were chasing the attacker, officials said.
One of the two adults was described as a heroic Portuguese citizen.
“During the tragic incident, a Portuguese citizen, while attempting to stop an attacker from escaping from the police, was seriously injured and isn’t any longer at risk. We sincerely thank him for this act of courage and bravado,” said the Portuguese Foreign Ministry.
On Friday, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the condition of the 4 children was stable after surgery for his or her life-threatening injuries.
She added that they were “under constant medical statement”.
Chief prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said the suspect’s motives were unknown but didn’t look like related to terrorism.
Hanoun was described by French media as a homeless man with no psychiatric or criminal history and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
He reportedly shouted, “In the name of Jesus Christ!” during the videotaped attack.
French authorities rejected his asylum application five days ago, claiming that he already had refugee status in Sweden and will not obtain it in one other EU country.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the refugee case as a “disturbing coincidence”, telling broadcaster TF1 that he “also sought asylum in Switzerland, Italy and France for reasons not fully explained.”
Hanoun has been sleeping on a street in central Annecy for the last six months after leaving Sweden when his application for citizenship was rejected a second time, the London Times reports.
His mother, who has lived in the US for 10 years, said she was “in shock” about the attack. She said her former daughter-in-law said Hanoun was depressed, based on the newspaper.
“He applied for citizenship but was rejected,” possibly because he served in the Syrian army, she said, adding, “It probably drove him crazy.”
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron met with the family of an injured 3-year-old British girl named Ettie, who was on holiday together with her family and at a playground at the time of the attack, the London Times reported.
Ettie and the French cousins were transferred to Grenoble, and the Dutch boy was sent to a hospital in Geneva across the border in Switzerland.
Macron and his wife Brigitte also visited the French children.
With Postal Wires