Nathan C. Villejuif
Nathan C. is identified as a 22-year-old man who attacked several people around lunchtime Friday in the suburb of Villejuif and they initially treated the incident as a criminal, not a terrorist incident.
Nathan C. Age
He is 22 Years old.
Nathan C. Villejuif Knife Attack
A man went on a knife rampage in a park in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, France. He shouted “Allah Akbar” against a man, and tried to stab him, but he escaped unharmed. Then the assailant knifed three people, stabbing to death a man in his heart and seriously wounding his wife in the throat. A second woman, who was jogging in the area, was also wounded with multiple backstabs. The assailant then tried to stab the groundskeeper and a homeless man, but they escaped in time without any injury. The attack took place outside a supermarket and the targets have been chosen at random. It was reported that the attacker was wearing a djellaba and was barefooted. He tried to stab more people but they managed to evade him. He shouted “Allahu akbar” when the police of the BAC arrived. They shot him once; as he got up while putting his hand in his pocket he was shot again with an assault rifle on suspicion that he was wearing an explosive belt. This turned out to not be the case on closer investigation.
Police said the man, identified as Nathan C., 22, attacked several people around noon on Friday in the suburb of Villejuif and initially treated the incident as a criminal and non-terrorist incident.
But in a statement, the French national anti-terrorism investigation agency (PNAT) said that although Nathan C. was known to have psychiatric problems, there was also worrying evidence about his conversion to Islam and radicalization.
“The investigations in the last hours have allowed us to establish that it was certainly radicalized (and show) … an organized preparation for its progress towards the act,” the statement said.
Earlier, a local magistrate said at a press conference that Nathan C. had shouted the Islamic invocation “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) during the attack.
Nathan C. converted to Islam in mid-2017 and is believed to have suffered serious psychiatric problems since he was a child, with several periods in the hospital. In June he stopped receiving treatment.
Villejuif Knife Attack Victims
The mayor of Villejuif, Franck Le Bohellec, said the deceased victim was a 56-year-old man who was out walking in the park with his wife at the time of the attack.
He died trying to protect her, the mayor said. She was seriously injured.
Investigation
On 5 January, Counter-terror prosecutors started to investigate the attack. Officials quoted that the attacker had a history of mental health problems, but prosecutors said that “an act of terrorism cannot be ruled out just because a person has psychiatric problems”. Philippe Bugeaud, deputy director of the regional judicial police, said there were a number of religious books in the 22-year-old attacker’s bag, including Salafist ones.