A German tourist was killed and two others (including a British citizen) were injured in an incident that occurred on Saturday in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the incident a “terrorist act.”
Police quickly detained the 26-year-old man, a French citizen, using a stun gun, the country’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters on Saturday.
A suspect armed with a knife attacked a married couple on Saturday evening. This happened on the Quai Grenelle, a few steps from the Eiffel Tower. During the incident, a German citizen was fatally wounded. After the police began to pursue the suspect, he attacked two more people with a hammer (one of them was a British citizen), after which he was detained.
The suspect was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for planning a terrorist attack and was on a French security watch list, Darmanin said. He added that the attacker suffers from mental disorders.
“I express my condolences to the family and loved ones of the German citizen who died this evening in a terrorist attack in Paris and sympathize with those who were injured,” Macron said on social media platform X.
J’adresse toutes mes condoléances à la famille et aux proches du ressortissant allemand décédé ce soir lors de l’attaque terroriste survenue à Paris et pense avec émotion aux personnes actuellement blessées et prises en charge.
Mes plus sincères remerciements aux forces de…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 3, 2023
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne stressed that France will uncompromisingly oppose terrorism.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the X website that he was shocked by what happened.
According to Darmanen, the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” and after his arrest told police that he was saddened by the deaths of Muslims “in Afghanistan and Palestine.”
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident.
