REPORTAGE
While investigators seek to understand the motivations that drove an administrative officer of the Paris police headquarters to kill four officials with knives Thursday, all the neighbors that Europe 1 met describe him as a discreet and polite man. "He was well shaved, dressed normally," says Eric, the guardian of the residence in Gonesse, Val-d'Oise, where lived the man with his wife and two children.
If the perpetrator was a practicing Muslim, there was no sign of radicalization, according to Eric. "I was surprised because we would have thought of such an act, nothing worried me in his behavior," he adds.
"With his disability, he could not express himself, shout his dismay"
The 45-year-old man, born in Fort-de-France, worked at the Intelligence Directorate of the Police Prefecture as a computer scientist since 2003. The couple suffered from deafness. Patricia, who introduces herself as a friend, evokes a suffering, an uneasiness at work in the assailant. "He wanted to leave the prefecture, he was not well there, he could not," she says. "With his disability, he could not speak out, scream his dismay, I can not imagine a person like that being able to kill four people for no reason."
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Misunderstanding and excitement are all the stronger in this quiet residence of Gonesse, home to many employees of the police headquarters. "I'm shocked, I feel sadness and anger," admits Samy, peacekeeper who has just discovered that the attacker lived in his building. "The police already have enough worries like that right now, with the risks of attack and the problems of suicides ..."