Le Mans knife attacker indicted and imprisoned

Europe 1 with AFP 1:24 p.m., August 01, 2022

The man arrested on Wednesday in Le Mans after injuring several passers-by with a knife was indicted for attempted murder and remanded in custody, we learned Monday from Le Mans prosecutor Delphine Dewailly.

The suspect "excludes any religious or terrorist dimension to his act"

The prosecution had requested on Friday "his indictment on the counts of attempted assassination, theft and rebellion, as well as his placement under a provisional arrest warrant" and the person concerned was indeed "indicted on the counts referred to and placed in detention provisional”, confirmed the magistrate to AFP.

"The person concerned admits to having been present and in possession of the knife, which he indicates that he used for his own defense, having himself been attacked a few days earlier," Ms. Dewailly said in a statement on Friday, adding that the suspect " excludes any religious or terrorist dimension to his act".

The investigation must make it possible to explore the personality of the accused

Claiming to be born in Afghanistan and aged 32, this man was arrested on Wednesday "during the stabbing of passers-by at the exit of a business on Avenue de la Liberation in Le Mans", recalled the magistrate.

"The two victims of these beatings, struck while they were precisely trying to immobilize the armed individual and threatening behavior, underwent the surgical intervention required by the injuries caused," she explained.

The investigation, entrusted to the Regional Service of the Judicial Police of Angers, must make it possible to "specify the exact circumstances of the facts and to explore the personality and the personal journey of the indicted, residing in France for several months", according to the press release.