Four children were stabbed on Thursday, three of whom remain in critical condition, in the French Alpine town of Annecy, when a knife-wielding Syrian man attacked them in a playground. An adult is also in critical condition after people were stabbed.
Eyewitnesses and video footage reveal that the man was wearing a head-covering and actively looking for victims as he ran after people with a knife. The man also appears to say, "In the name of Jesus Christ," in English at the beginning of the video, while pointing at the necklace he is wearing.
CBS News reported the police were soon sent to the scene to apprehend the man. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin praised the police in a tweet, saying that the suspect was arrested “thanks to the very rapid intervention” of the authorities.
Ambulances were called to the scene and the children were quickly ushered to the hospital to be treated.
All of the children involved in the horrific attack were around the age of three and belonged to the same kindergarten class that was playing in the Jardins de l’Europe lakeside park, per CBS.
The area was cut off from the general public after the attack, and soldiers were deployed to block access to nearby roads as police began questioning those who witnessed the tragedy.
President Emmanuel Macron learned of the event, calling it an “absolutely cowardly attack.” The video shows that the attacker does not seem to have targeted anyone specifically, but was going after anyone nearby.
Macron said: “Children and an adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as with their families and the emergency services on the scene.”
The reports suggest that the attacker was a Syrian man born in 1991, and that he had applied for asylum in France. However, there has been no confirmation of these details from the police. One eyewitness said that it was clear the man was targeting children, though the motivation for doing so is still unclear.
