A series of incidents took place at the Saint-Lazare station in Paris. On Monday evening, November 1, a man armed with a knife threatened four railway security guards while shouting “Allah Akhbar. France is ruled by the Islamic State”. According to initial information from BFMTV, the guards had to use their weapons to neutralise the person. He was seriously injured by two shots to the chest. The suspect fell onto the tracks before being rescued and taken to hospital suffering from a life-threatening injury.
Initially, the officers had simply stopped the person because he was not wearing a mask, which is mandatory. The man then became aggressive and verbally assaulted the officers before pulling out a knife and invoking Islamic State. Identification papers were found in his belongings, which investigators are currently checking. The man is known to the police for violence, but has never been brought to justice by the intelligence services.