The man, aged about thirty years, was subdued by a plainclothes policeman with whom he fought. A woman on the train, Stephanie Debord, told AFP that the man grabbed the policeman’s gun and fired, reporting two shots from his side. A judicial investigation has been opened for “attempted murder of a person holding public authority” The man was “placed in custody at the research brigade of Autun,” said the deputy prosecutor. “Thanks to them, we escaped a disaster,” the passenger said.
The man, aged about thirty years, was subdued by a plainclothes policeman with whom he fought, told AFP the deputy prosecutor of Châlon-sur-Saône Angelique Depetris, adding that during this fight, “a shot (was) gone”.
The man, aged about thirty years, was subdued by a plainclothes policeman with whom he fought, told AFP the deputy prosecutor of Châlon-sur-Saône Angelique Depetris, adding that during this fight, “a shot (was) gone”.
A plainclothes policeman subdued Thursday in a TGV Annecy-Paris a man armed with a knife, after a fight during which a shot was fired, without causing injury but causing the fright of passengers. The man, aged about thirty years, was subdued by a plainclothes policeman with whom he fought, told AFP the deputy prosecutor of Chalon-sur-Saône Angelique Depetris, adding that during this fight, “a shot (was) gone”.
A woman on the train, Stephanie Debord, told AFP that the man grabbed the policeman’s gun and fired, reporting two shots from his side. Angélique Depetris announced that a judicial investigation had been opened for “attempted murder of a person holding public authority”. The attack occurred near Le Creusot. The man was “placed in custody at the research brigade of Autun,” said the deputy prosecutor.
“Thank you to the off-duty police officer who bravely intervened on this train to arrest a threatening individual,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted. “Gratitude and appreciation to the police officer who acted to subdue a dangerous individual on board the #TGV. Thank you to the #SNCF teams and law enforcement for their responsiveness and composure; they protected all passengers,” his Transport counterpart, Clément Beaune, said on Twitter.
“After the station of Mâcon, an individual, who was at the entrance of the airlock, entered with hands full of blood. I said to the passenger behind me, ‘This guy is weird.’ I noticed that he had broken with a hammer the window of the train, which was running. He was completely haggard, elsewhere,” said Stéphanie Debord, who was in car No. 2, in first class. “The gentleman got up, he tried to subdue him, it went into a fight, punches, kicks. There was screaming,” she said.
“There, a plainclothes policeman, who was going up to Paris for July 14 and who was in car No. 5, was called by the controller saying that apparently there was a problem with wagon 2. The policeman was in shorts-shirts, he had his gun on him. He tried to subdue the man, a foreigner, who did not speak French, and was beside himself. (The latter) took the policeman’s gun and fired two shots,” the 49-year-old passenger said. “It was screaming. We all lay down between the seats, because we were afraid that he would enter the car, he was less than ten meters away. I was on the line with my husband, he heard the shots on the phone, he told me: ‘you stay on the ground, you don’t move.'”
“They asked for belts from people who had them on them, we gave them three, four belts to try to control it but it was very complicated, even if it was not thick. There was this plainclothes policeman and this gentleman from the SNCF, the passenger behind me, who was in civilian clothes and going up to Paris. Thanks to them, we escaped a disaster,” the passenger said. Passengers who expressed the need were able to receive psychological support, she said.
The policeman “was requested by SNCF staff under the ‘travel-protect’ program set up last year. Thanks to it, police officers have the opportunity to benefit from discounts or free travel on trains provided they are armed,” said Gérald Darmanin. “The train being mobilized for the needs of the investigation, a TGV came from Lyon to take care of the passengers, and this TGV left for Paris,” said for its part to AFP the SNCF, which “wishes to thank the policeman for his intervention”.