“The terrorist motivation of the act, as we speak, is not yet established,” said Laurent Nuñez, the deputy interior minister.
But Nuñez also said this of Strasbourg jihad mass murderer Cherif Chekatt, who is not referred to by name in this article: “He had several stays in prison, and it is during those stays that was noticed a radicalization of the way he practiced” Islam.
All right. So he was “radicalized” in his practice of Islam, but nonetheless, French authorities cannot be sure of his motive. This is willful ignorance of the highest order, stemming from the near-universal dogmatic assumption that Islam is a religion of peace, and therefore could not possibly incite anyone to violence, and so there must be some other explanation. It’s tantamount to French officials in 1940 saying “German soldiers are pouring across the border and there has been noticed a tendency among them to Nazi radicalization, but their motive is not yet established.”
“Police in France Hunt for Strasbourg Shooting Suspect, and a Motive,” by Elian Peltier and Aurelien Breeden, New York Times, December 12, 2018 (thanks to David):
STRASBOURG, France — It remained unclear what motivated the gunman who opened fire at a crowded street market in Strasbourg, France, officials said Wednesday, as the police continued an intensive search for the attacker.
“The terrorist motivation of the act, as we speak, is not yet established,” said Laurent Nuñez, the deputy interior minister, although he cautioned that the investigation was still in its initial stages.
The attack on Tuesday night hit one of the most popular Christmas markets in France, unleashing chaos among the thousands of people milling around the temporary vendors’ chalets dotting Strasbourg’s historical neighborhood. The shooting recalled other attacks in recent years by the Islamist radicals in France, Belgium and other parts of Europe — but some witnesses wondered at first if the panic was related to the “Yellow Vest” protests that have paralyzed French cities in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, the police said that three people were killed and 13 others wounded….
“It might be the biggest Christmas market in France — you’d never think of an attack when you hear the first gunshots,” said Marc Meyer, 32, who said he was standing by the market’s Christmas tree when he saw a panicked crowd rushing toward him around 8 p.m. “You think of a street show, you think of some agitation from the Yellow Vests, but you don’t think that an attack is happening.”…
Mr. Nuñez, speaking on France Inter radio, said that a 29-year-old suspect, whose name has not been made public, had an extensive criminal record — he was in prison as recently as 2015 — but had never been convicted of terrorism and did not appear to have tried to go to Syria.
“He had several stays in prison, and it is during those stays that was noticed a radicalization of the way he practiced” Islam, Mr. Nuñez said. He confirmed reports that the police had raided the suspect’s home Tuesday morning in an unrelated murder case, but he said that the theory that the raid had pushed him to act was only “a hypothesis among others.”…