The knife attack which left one dead and another seriously injured in Bordeaux on the evening of Wednesday April 10 was not of a terrorist nature according to the prosecution. The attacker’s motive could be linked to drinking alcohol on Eid.
An attack and three deaths. On the evening of Wednesday April 10, a man armed with a knife fatally attacked one person and seriously injured another in Bordeaux, on the Place du Miroir d’eau popular with walkers, on the banks of the Garonne. The course of events is becoming clearer and according to witnesses, the attacker challenged the two victims and the altercation began with exchanges of “fisticuffs” before turning into a knife attack, declared the public prosecutor of Bordeaux, Frédérique Porterie, in press briefing this Thursday, April 11.
Spotted by the police while trying to flee, the suspect was shot dead by a police officer using a submachine gun. “The suspect walked towards the police with a knife, he was threatening towards the police,” said the magistrate.
Authentication of the suspect’s identity is underway using his fingerprints. “He would be of Afghan origin and aged 25,” according to the magistrate. During the attack, “he was armed with a fairly large knife, more of a hunting knife,” she added.
A motive linked to alcohol… and religious?
According to the first elements of the investigation, “no element militates in favor of an attack with terrorist connotations”. “There were no a priori Islamist comments made by the author,” a source close to the investigation told AFP before the press conference.
At the same time, another path is emerging. The attacker accused the two victims he targeted, “in broken French”, of consuming alcohol while “it was Eid”, indicated Frédérique Porterie, corroborating information from Le Parisien which claimed that the suspect stabbed these people because of “a dispute related to alcohol during Ramadan”. Testimonies received by the prosecutor relate to a previous altercation between the attacker and two other people who were drinking rosé on the day of Eid. There too, a punch and an elbow were exchanged, before the suspect asked the individuals to “come and fight” by taking out his knife, continued the magistrate.
The victims are of Algerian nationality, one of whom is homeless and the other hosted by France Terre d’Asile. The person killed was 37 years old, the one injured was 26 years old, a police source said. The deceased victim has “nine stab wounds”, including two with “cardiac damage”. The second man received three wounds, but “his life is no longer in danger at this time” reassured the prosecutor.
Two open investigations
Two investigations have been opened, confirmed the public prosecutor. That targeting the assailant was opened for the counts of “murder, attempted murder and violence with a weapon”. The second was entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) “for intentional homicide in order to clarify the circumstances in which one of the police officers” was led “to use his service weapon in order to neutralize the assailant” specified the magistrate. Self-defense seems “considered”.