Arrested after the assault of a municipal policewoman seriously injured with a knife in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, near Nantes, the suspect died of his injuries.

The prison administration had noticed his radicalization in prison, during a sentence he had served until last March.

DECRYPTION

The facts occurred Friday, in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, north of Nantes. At around 10 a.m., a man attacked a municipal policewoman with a knife, before fleeing with his victim's weapon. Arrested and hit by fire from gendarmes in the early afternoon, the suspect died of his injuries. His profile, which combines radicalization and an unstable psychiatric profile, is at the heart of an investigation which has only just begun.

According to information from Europe 1, the suspect was known for radicalization and had been released from prison a few weeks ago.

From a source close to the file, he was imprisoned on March 9, 2013 for "repeated armed robbery" and "forcible confinement".

This individual, of French nationality, "was mainly serving an eight-year prison sentence pronounced by the North Assize Court on October 7, 2015".

Rigorous practice of Islam

According to our information, his radicalization was noticed by the prison administration from 2016. He had been placed in solitary confinement from other inmates, had a rigorous practice of Islam and had a vocabulary specific to radicalized people.

It was on file with the FSPRT, the file of reports for the prevention of terrorist radicalization.

Besides his radicalization, the prison administration had also reported "the psychological vulnerability of the suspect, schizophrenic tendency, with delusional phases during which he reports his great religiosity". 

Socio-judicial monitoring implemented

His release had been validated by the Loire-Atlantique departmental assessment group.

"He was released on March 22, 2021 at the end of his sentence (without adjustment). Upon his release, the socio-judicial follow-up to which he had been sentenced in 2015 was put in place immediately, in particular the obligation of care", specifies a judicial source.

"He was met three times by the penitentiary integration and probation service and presented the proof of care to the medico-psychological center", continues this source.

"He was also supported by an association linked to the penitentiary service for integration and probation."

The man had since found a job.