After threatening to attack several passers-by, a man armed with two knives was killed by a municipal police officer Tuesday afternoon.
What happened in Saint-Étienne? This Tuesday, November 26, late in the afternoon, a man was shot dead in the city center, Place Jean-Jaurès, not far from the Christmas market. “Armed with knives, threatening to cause carnage”, in the words of the city’s mayor, Gaël Perdriau, the individual was killed by a municipal police officer, relays France Blue. According to local radio, the man was then in possession of two knives.
Initially, the individual allegedly ran after passers-by at Place Jean-Jaurès, causing panic. Then, he fled to rue Charles de Gaulle. This is where the municipal police would have intervened. While he was near the Loire prefecture, the man allegedly took a passerby hostage, sticking one of his knives under her throat. It was finally in his flight towards Place Carnot, in Grand Rue, near the Grand-Gonnet tram stop, that a police officer allegedly used his weapon while the police were trying to arrest the individual, relates Progress. Injured, the man was treated by the firefighters and the Samu and transported to the North hospital in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, where he finally died.
Two investigations have been opened: one concerns the individual and the facts with which he is accused, the other the fatal shooting by the municipal police. Concerning the man with the knives, the Saint-Étienne prosecutor, David Charmatz, has already indicated that the attack did not appear to have a terrorist motive, even if the identity of the individual as well as his motivations remain to be determined. Praising “the responsiveness, professionalism and coolness of the municipal police officers who were the first responders [et] probably saved the life of this woman and undoubtedly others”, the mayor of Saint-Étienne announced that a psychological unit would be set up for the 10 police officers who intervened, as well as for the witnesses of the scene.