The man suspected of stabbing a soldier at Gare de l’Est on Monday evening in Paris is already known to the courts for a murder committed in 2018, a case for which he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, police sources said.
According to Actu 17, the individual had been arrested for the murder of a young man, stabbed at the Châtelet-Les-Halles RER station in January 2018, before being declared not responsible due to his mental health.
The suspect calls himself a “Christian”
This man, aged 40 and born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but naturalised French in 2006, according to one of these sources. According to initial information, he “said he was a Christian and shouted God is big in French” during the attack, said another police source.
Surveillance camera footage shows the suspect following the soldiers for several moments before he carried out his attack. When arrested, he said he acted “because the military is killing people in his country,” the same police source added.
The soldier was hit in the upper back while patrolling the Gare de l’Est. He was evacuated, conscious, and taken care of by emergency services. His life is not in danger.
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