The profile of the suspected terrorist is becoming clearer, his intentions are beginning to be better understood by investigators. His sister notably painted the portrait of him as a very radicalized Islamist.
What happened on October 7
- A knife attack took place on Friday October 13 in a high school in the Gambetta-Carnot school campus in Arras. A teacher was killed and three people, a PE teacher and two school staff, were injured by several stabbings.
- The anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard Mohammed Mogouchkov, indicated on Tuesday October 17 how the assailant had proceeded: the latter, armed with two knives, first “violently hit Dominique Bernard in the neck and shoulder, another teacher tried to intervene and was stabbed in the face” in front of the school. Then he entered the interior courtyard of the establishment, to pursue a teacher who had intervened outside. “His attention was diverted by the intervention of a maintenance worker with a chair, while trying to intervene, he fell and the attacker tried to stab him several times,” continued the magistrate. .
Who is the suspected terrorist?
- The Arras attacker, Mohammed Mogouchkov, is a 20-year-old former high school student of Chechen origin. He was placed in pre-trial detention on Tuesday after being indicted in the evening for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, as well as for criminal terrorist association. File S for radicalization since the beginning of October, he was the subject of close surveillance by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI). His family is known to the police for radicalization.
- The anti-terrorism prosecutor, Jean-François Ricard, indicated that a judicial investigation was opened in particular for charges of “assassination and attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise”. It is likely that he was helped by his younger brother, who was also indicted on Tuesday evening. He is suspected of having “provided some support in his deadly project”, particularly regarding “the handling of knives”.
- Mohammed Mogushkov pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in an audio recording. According to the prosecution, he expressed his “hatred of France, of the French, of democracy and of the education from which he benefited in our country”. He also provided his “support for Muslims in Iraq, Asia, Palestine, but without linking his act to current events” in Israel.
- One of Mohammed Mogouchkov’s sisters spent three days in police custody before being released Monday evening. We know more about the content of his statements made to investigators. According to France Info, the 18-year-old young woman assured that her brother, the alleged perpetrator of the attack, was a violent man and that he had attacked their mother several times. She herself says she suffered violence. She also added that she had been confined in her room by him and his brothers. According to her, Mohammed Mogouchkov is a radicalized young man, who broadcast Islamist prayer songs at their home. She also assured that she had not been informed of his terrorist plans.
What reactions from the government?
- Emmanuel Macron, traveling in Albania, had a few words to describe the current climate of tension this Tuesday: “We saw it again yesterday in Brussels, all European states are vulnerable. […] It’s a vulnerability that goes with democracies and states of law, where you have individuals who can decide to do the worst.” “We must live in a society of vigilance,” he added.
- Gérald Darmanin announced the re-examination of the S files and the expulsion or withdrawal of the residence permits of radicalized foreigners to force them to leave the territory. Gabriel Attal promised to strengthen security near and in educational establishments after the terrorist attack.