A German tourist was murdered and two others were injured by a knife-wielding assailant near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Saturday.
“The police have just courageously arrested an assailant attacking passersby in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle,” Mr. Darmanin stated on X (formerly known as Twitter). “Please avoid the area.”
The event occurred at 7 p.m. According to various reports, the male assailant assaulted a tourist couple with a knife on the Quai de Grenelle, near the Eiffel Tower.
According to Mr. Darmanin, the perpetrator fatally stabbed the German tourist, but the wife was spared thanks to the prompt intervention of a cab driver. The attacker then departed the area, injuring two more persons with a hammer.
The victims' identities were not immediately revealed.
The attacker was later subdued with a taser and captured by authorities. He was only recognized as a 25-year-old French national who had served four years in jail for a violent crime scheme.
The guy allegedly yelled "Allahu Akhbar," which translates to "God is greatest" in Arabic, and told officers he was upset about Muslims being killed in Afghanistan and Palestine.
“This person was ready to kill others,” Mr. Darmanin told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed condolences to the German national's family and complimented the emergency services for their quick response in apprehending the suspect.
He referred to the occurrence as a terrorist attack.
"The national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office now seized will be responsible for shedding light on this matter so that justice can be done in the name of the French people," Mr. Macron said in a statement.
Mr. Darmanin painted a short sketch of the assailant, who was born in Neuilly-Sur-Seine, a Paris neighborhood, saying he had released jail in 2020 and was under monitoring and receiving mental treatment. He was most recently residing in the Essonne area, south of Paris, with his parents.
France has been on high alert since the October fatal stabbing of a teacher in the northern city of Arras by a former pupil coming from Russia's Caucasus Mountains and suspected of Islamic radicalization.
This was three years after another teacher was assassinated outside of Paris, decapitated by a radicalized Chechen who was eventually killed by police.
