UPDATE
(…) The alleged attacker - who was already known to the police - was arrested shortly after the crime at the entrance of his flat on Avenue Condorcet in Villeurbanne by police officers from the Groupe de Sécurité de Proximité (GSP). Actu 17
A confrontation that escalates. On Wednesday November 16, a man in a djellaba attacked passers-by in Villeurbanne, as reported by Le Progrès. The crime took place in the Tonkin district and although the motives of the attacker are not yet known with certainty, they are said to have originated in an altercation that occurred at the BP petrol station in Tonkin at around 5.45pm. For reasons as yet unknown, a man wearing a djellaba got into an argument with the petrol station operator, who then threw him out of the petrol station.
After this altercation, the 25-year-old man, who lives in Villeurbanne, went out into the street, more precisely on the Boulevard du 11-Novembre-1918, where in his rage he attacked passers-by. With his bare hands, he allegedly choked four people, including a woman who is still in danger of dying after violent blows to her face. She suffered from cerebral oedema and was unconscious when the emergency services arrived. The fire brigade and Samu rescue service attended to her at the scene for one and a half hours before she could be taken to a hospital in the region as an absolute emergency. The three other victims suffered lighter injuries, but at least one of them was hospitalised. The perpetrator was arrested moments after the crime at around 6pm on Avenue Condorcet in Villeurbanne, near his home. He was taken into police custody and the Sûreté départementale was charged with the investigation of attempted murder. According to the current state of the investigation, a terrorist background is not assumed, but the deed of a mentally disturbed person is favoured.
According to Le Progrès, the young man, who has Moroccan nationality and is staying in France illegally, was turned away from the petrol station for reasons that are still unknown.