Moment knifeman lunges at woman during stabbing rampage that left three injured in Paris
This is the moment a knifeman lunged at a woman during a stabbing spree in Paris that left three people, including a pregnant mother-to-be, injured.
Three women aged 19, 24 and 36 were taken to hospital after the assault at around 11.30am in the Porte de Clichy area in the north of the capital, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Paris police said.
They were ‘treated by emergency services and transported to the hospital’, the police added.
Two were gravely wounded, but their lives were not in danger, Nunez said. One was hit in the lower back, the other in the abdomen. One of the victims is in critical condition.
‘The perpetrator was apprehended by an off-duty police officer,’ Nunez said.
The suspect, a 31-year-old man believed to have mental health issues, was arrested at the scene following a police operation. He was armed with two knives, local media reports.
Videos shared on social media show a man with long black hair wearing beige in the area wielding two knives before he is pinned down with a chair by bystanders.
One particularly chilling moment shows the man lunge at a woman, brandishing one of the weapons.
A knifeman attacked three women during a stabbing spree in Paris. Video showed the suspect running down the street brandishing kitchen knives
One particularly chilling moment shows the man lunge at a woman, brandishing one of the weapons
The woman fled in terror when she realised the man was carrying kitchen knives
The suspect was pinned down with a chair by bystanders
Pictures show two discarded kitchen knives at the scene of the triple attack in Paris this afternoon
Mohammed-Ali Bouhadjar, a local salesman, saw the incident as he left a nearby supermarket to walk to the nearest metro station.
After initially taking out his phone to film it, he told Le Parisien that he knew he needed to take action.
He told the newspaper: ‘The moment I saw him stab a woman in the back, I started shouting: “Come on, let’s get him!”
Bouhadjar said he knocked the man down with a broom he picked up.
The French paper reported that a passerby carrying a suitcase struck the attacker, forcing him to drop his weapons.
Bouhadjar, who said he has practised judo for 15 years, added: ‘I tripped him and we all jumped on him’
Meanwhile, Issa Besseka, who worked in the nearby Les Deux Coupoles brasserie, said a 19-year-old woman pushed the door open while clutching her bleeding abdomen.
He said that as his colleagues took care of her, he stepped outside to witness what happened: ‘I saw the man approaching people, threatening them. He went towards a woman who hadn’t seen him coming, and he started stabbing her in the shoulder and buttocks.’
Upon seeing this, he grabbed a chair and put it on the attacker to pin him down. After five minutes, police arrived and took him into custody.
Speaking to Le Parisien, a source close to the investigation said: ‘The guy said, “Allah sent me to kill women.”‘
He had made ‘incoherent statements’, Nunez added, however warning against jumping to conclusions on his motives.
The anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office has not taken up the case, and terrorism is not the leading theory.
The office said it is ‘monitoring the procedure conducted by the Paris prosecutor’s office’.
The Porte de Clichy tram station has been closed since approximately 1pm, on the orders of the Paris police, local media reports.
Waitress Kheira Dellabed, 54, said she was washing dishes at the time of the stabbing.
‘We saw a man walk by with two knives and stab three people,’ she said.
Police officers pin a man who was armed with kitchen knives and attacked three women
French police and rescuers walk down a street after a knife-wielding man wounded three people in Paris
The suspect, a 31-year-old man believed to have mental health issues, was arrested at the scene
‘Then a young man with a small suitcase hit him with his bag, knocking him to the ground,’ she added. A waiter from a nearby restaurant then put a chair ‘on him’.
Taking to X, Paris mayor Emmanuel Gregoire wrote: ‘I extend all my thoughts to the victims of this act of extreme violence.
‘The investigation must shed light on the motivations of the perpetrator. Deep gratitude to the off-duty police officer who subdued the assailant.’
The attack comes after an Islamist radical on Saturday in the German capital of Berlin ploughed a rented minivan into a Pride parade, killing one woman and wounding 29.