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Marseille suspect was released from custody day before attack Marseille knife attacker had multiple fake identities, prosecutors say
(about 2 hours later)
A man who fatally stabbed two women outside the main train station in Marseille had been detained for shoplifting and released the day before the attack, officials have said. A man who fatally stabbed two women outside Saint-Charles station in Marseille on Sunday has been traced through his fingerprints to multiple fake identities, prosecutors have said.
French authorities are studying the suspect’s mobile phone and working to determine whether he had accomplices or direct links to Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Sunday’s stabbing. The assailant was killed by soldiers after the attack, the latest of several targeting France. The assailant – who was released on Saturday after being detained for shoplifting – was shot dead by soldiers immediately after the attack. Detectives are examining the attacker’s mobile phone to establish if he had accomplices or contacts with Islamic State, which claimed responsibility.
The suspect was identified by his fingerprints, which matched those taken during previous arrests, according to two police officials. He was not on France’s extremist watchlist, according to the officials, who were not authorised to be named when discussing an ongoing investigation. The public prosecutor, Frédéric Molins, said the man had been traced through his fingerprints to seven different identities in France and several north African countries since 2005.
The man did not appear to have French residency papers and was detained for suspected shoplifting at a department store in the Lyon region on Saturday before being released, according to Yves Lefebvre, a police union official. The attacker had been arrested by police in Lyon on 29 September for shoplifting and gave officers a Tunisian passport in the name of Ahmed H, born 9 November 1987 at Bizerte.
He had used multiple fake identities in a series of previous arrests, say police. The man told police he lived in Lyon but was “homeless and out of work” apart from the occasional painting and decorating jobs. Molins said neither this name nor others used by the killer were known to France’s security services or anti-terrorist police.
Lefebvre, of the Unite SGP police union, said while it might shock the public that the suspect was released the day before carrying out the attack it did not shock police. “He told officers that he was a user of hard drugs and was divorced,” Molins said. He was given back his passport and released the following afternoon without charge.
He said shoplifting usually resulted in a quick police report and a court summons for a later date, and the suspect was released. “From the CCTV images we see the suspect arrived at Saint-Charles station at 13.32 and go out on to the square outside at 13.38, where he sat on a bench,” Molins told a news conference.
“Nothing allowed us to suspect there was a threat of radicalisation during the [Lyon] arrest,” he told the Associated Press. Seven minutes later “he got up sudden[ly] and went towards the first victim, whom he stabbed several times. He fled the scene but made a circular route back to the second victim, whom he attacked with several violent stabs of the knife.”
He said the man used multiple pseudonyms and identity papers, making it difficult to determine his true identity or even to find a house to search. He said authorities hoped an iPhone found on the suspect would give clues to his true identity and motives. The man then ran towards soldiers patrolling as part of Operation Sentinelle, who shot him twice. The knife, with a blade measuring 20cm, was found near the body of the attacker, who was also carrying a small stainless steel kitchen knife and a mobile phone.
The victims were cousins between 17 and 21 years old, according to three police and judicial officials. It is unclear if they had any link to the attacker. Molins said the man had shouted “Allahu Akhbar” before each attack. The two victims, named as Mauranne, 20, a medical student from Marseille, and Laura, 21, a trainee nurse from Lyon, were cousins.
Authorities have opened a terrorism investigation. The Paris prosecutor was due to hold a news conference about the attack later on Monday. The Paris anti-terrorist police have opened an investigation for “murder and attempted murder of a public official as part of a terrorist organisation”. The inquiry is being led by the national police and the country’s security services.
The interior minister, Gérard Collomb, said police had video footage that shows the man attacking a woman and running away, then coming back and attacking a second woman. Some witnesses reported hearing the assailant shout “Allahu Akbar!” – Arabic for “God is great” – Collomb said. Yves Lefebvre, of the Unite SGP police union, said while it might shock the public that the suspect was released the day before carrying out the attack it did not shock police. He said shoplifting usually resulted in a quick police report and a court summons for a later date, and the suspect was released.
The Isis-linked Aamaq news agency said the assailant was acting in response to the extremist group’s calls to target countries in the US-led coalition fighting militants in Syria and Iraq. France has been part of the anti-Isis coalition since 2014. The Aamaq statement did not provide evidence of a direct link to the attacker and it is unclear if the claim is merely opportunistic.
Saint-Charles station in Marseille reopened as usual on Monday. Last month, four American college students were attacked with acid at the station. French authorities said the female assailant who doused the four Boston College students was suffering from mental illness.