PARIS (AP) – French judges yesterday handed preliminary charges of attempted murder to a man suspected of stabbing four young children and two adults in a French Alps park, an attack that reverberated across France and beyond.
The suspect, a 31-year-old Syrian refugee with permanent Swedish residency, has a three year-old daughter living in Sweden, regional prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said.
Witnesses told investigators that the suspect mentioned his daughter, his wife during the attack on Thursday targetting a playground in the lakeside town of Annecy.
The victims, who came from multiple countries, are no longer in life-threatening condition, the prosecutor said. The children, between 22 months and three years old, remain hospitalised.
Police detained the suspect in the lakeside park in the town of Annecy after bystanders – who repeatedly swung at the attacker with his backpack – sought to deter him.
The suspected attacker, whose name was not released, was presented to investigating judges in Annecy yesterday and given charges of attempted murder and armed resistance, Bonnet-Mathis said.
He is in custody pending further investigation.
The suspect refused to talk to investigators, and was examined by a psychiatrist and other doctors who deemed him fit to face charges, the prosecutor said.
She said that the motive remained unclear, but it didn’t appear to be terrorism-related.
