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03 October 2019The police officer who today stabbed and killed 4 colleagues in the police headquarters in Paris, before being shot down by an agent, had converted to Islam for 18 months, according to French BFM TV sources. The Paris prosecutor also states that his wife, a Muslim, is in custody. The news comes after the search, which took place in the afternoon, in the couple's home in Gonesse, in Val d'Oise.
We now try to understand what prompted this 45-year-old "model police officer", affected as his wife by a slight deafness and who had "never presented behavioral difficulties" or "the slightest sign of alert", to kill - in a mad expedition, armed with a ceramic knife, four colleagues from the police station at the police headquarters in Paris.
It all started at 1 pm: he first stabbed a policewoman near her office, then started walking in other areas of the police station, killing a second agent inside an office, another on the stairs and another in the police station yard. It is here that he was shot down by an agent.
The motive is still unknown, therefore, but the path of the terrorist attack is excluded and the investigators seem to favor that "of an internal conflict".
Meanwhile, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has come to the police station, which is located on the Ile-de-la-Cité, to "witness his support and solidarity to all of the staff". On the spot also the Interior Minister, Christophe Castaner, who postponed his departure for a visit - scheduled for today - in Greece and Turkey.
"No warning from the aggressor"
The assailant has "never presented behavioral difficulties" nor "the slightest sign of alert", said Castaner, speaking to reporters. The minister then addressed his condolences to the families of the four victims and reported that a wounded fifth is currently undergoing a hospital operation, but the news "is reassuring".