what we know about the suspect with a “charged” psychiatric profile

The perpetrator of the knife attack that occurred in the Lyon metro on Sunday May 26 was arrested and placed in police custody. The suspect is unknown to the police, but has a “fairly heavy” psychiatric profile.

His motivations have yet to be determined. The author of the knife attack which took place on line B of the Lyon metro, in the 7th arrondissement, on Sunday May 26 around 2:30 p.m., was arrested by the anti-crime brigade and placed in police custody. The Lyon public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for “attempted intentional homicide” after the attack which left four injured, two of them serious, between the Debourg and Jean Jaurès stations.

The suspect, a 27-year-old man of Moroccan origin, did not express any demands after his action and did not have any disputes with metro passengers before becoming violent according to a source cited by Franceinfo.

Terrorist act or gesture of an unbalanced person?

The Lyon knife attack has not been claimed as a terrorist act by its author or another entity for the time being and “there is no element” to support the possibility of motivation. terrorist, a police source told AFP. If the terrorist hypothesis is not favored, the investigators have not indicated that they have completely ruled it out.

The profile of the suspect and perpetrator of the attack is being established. The man “is unknown to the files” of the police services, in particular those of intelligence, the Rhône prefecture said in a press release. But “he was the subject of several hospitalizations due to psychiatric problems,” the prefecture said in a press release. Prefect Fabienne Buccio indicated during a press briefing that the individual “had several visits to several psychiatric hospitals in several regions” also indicated Fabienne Buccio. According to her, the suspect “does not present any particular profile other than a fairly heavy psychiatric profile”.

If the man is unknown to the police services, he is unknown to the administration since he is subject to an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) pronounced by the prefecture of Vienna in 2022 declared the prefect du Rhône who says he does not know the reasons for the non-execution of the OQTF.

Four victims including two serious

The knife attack in the Lyon metro left four injured on Sunday May 26. Two people were hit in the thorax and abdomen and were in absolute emergency when the emergency services intervened, but their vital prognosis was not in jeopardy. The third victim was injured in the arm and a fourth person was more lightly injured according to the Rhône prefecture. Many witnesses to the scene, uninjured but shocked, were taken care of “by a psychological support unit”.