Terror suspect in French school stabbings reportedly known to police
By German Press Agency
PARIS – A knife-wielding attacker killed one person and critically injured two others in a school in northern France on Friday.
The suspect, who is reportedly known to the French authorities as a radicalized Islamist, was arrested by police in the city of Arras, according to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
Police in the city of Arras said the situation was under control and there was no longer any danger. No students were injured, BFMTV reported.
French anti-terror prosecutors said they were leading the investigation on suspicion of terror-related murder and attempted murder.
BFMTV reported that the 20-year-old suspect shouted, “God is great!” before killing one teacher and injuring another. Another employee at the Gambetta high school was also injured in the attack.
The perpetrator is believed to be a former student at the school.
The attacker and his brother, who was also detained, are said to be from Chechnya, the newspaper Le Figaro reported, citing Interior Ministry sources.
The Russian-born suspected attacker is listed in a file of radicalized persons, the newspaper reported.
Security services had taken particular interest in the suspect over recent weeks, according to the newspaper. Police had stopped and searched him on Thursday, the day before the attack, although he was not arrested.
He was also reportedly under surveillance by French authorities.
President Emmanuel Macron said he was traveling to the scene. The parliament in Paris broke off its session and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne canceled a scheduled trip.
Darmanin and Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak are also expected in Arras.
The attack comes just days before the three-year anniversary of the fatal attack on French history teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed and then beheaded by an assailant in a Paris suburb on Oct. 16, 2020. The slaying of Paty, 47, was classified as an act of Islamist terrorism and drew international horror. French security forces shot and killed the perpetrator, an 18-year-old who also had Russian-Chechen roots.
Before Paty’s killing, the teacher had been the subject of violent remarks on the internet because he had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class during a lesson on freedom of expression.