The investigation continues, more than a month after the attack in Strasbourg, which killed five people on December 11, on the Christmas market in the city of Alsace. And according to information from the newspaper Le Monde and France 3, the attack led by Cherif Chekatt had been premeditated.
The terrorist shot by a police patrol "was for several weeks in full preparation", according to the latest developments of the investigation, writes Le Monde . At his home, the investigators had found a claim video on a USB key, in which he lends allegiance in French and Arabic to the jihadist group Islamic State, but also a handwritten message. In this message, according to the daily, Cherif Chekatt writes: "O you men, the battle is underway, the calls for jihad are launched, the doors of paradise are open.If you are not horsemen, push yourself and give way to women to lead the battle. " Also found were hunting knives, a hood, a revolver, and a defensive grenade. Regarding the claim of the IS, dated December 13, Le Monde said it remains considered opportunistic, "no link being proven with the terrorist"
He reportedly told his mother his "intention to die". Other clues argue in favor of premeditation. In 2015, the man shot dead after two days on the run told a co-detainee of "his hatred for police, magistrates and Jews", as well as his intention to "commit a robbery before leaving for Syria or to die as a martyr ". His own mother eventually acknowledged that Cherif Chekatt had given him "about five months" before the attack his "intention to die" without her taking this warning seriously.
According to Le Monde , Audrey M., a rapper and friend of Cherif Chekatt, whom he met in prison in 2012, indicates that the terrorist called him the morning of the attack, after escaping the arrest. at his home, to find weapons. According to him, Cherif Chekatt had already asked for weapons in September 2018, to commit robberies. A request that he would have repeated in October, then in November and a few weeks before the attack. The rapper would then have organized a meeting with a contact member of the community of Travelers, involved in the arms trade. Audrey M. has since been indicted for "involvement in criminal criminal conspiracy" and "acquisition, possession, and disposition of category B weapons" and then detained.