France: Muslim stabs man ten times in neck ‘in name of Allah,’ authorities rule out terrorism, search for motive

“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks” (Qur’an 47:4).

Mohamed L. did just that, but French authorities neither know nor care what is in the Qur’an, or how a Muslim might act upon those teachings. French authorities are sure that Mohamed L. is mentally ill. After all, what else could he possibly be?

“Marseille: a father attacked with a knife near a Catholic school,” translated from “Marseille : un père de famille attaqué au couteau à proximité d’une école catholique,” by Guillaume Poingt, Le Figaro, May 10, 2022:

The 23-year-old suspect, Mohamed L., reportedly said he “acted in the name of God.” The victim is seriously injured and an investigation is underway.

A 40-year-old father was stabbed ten times in the throat on Tuesday May 10 around 6 p.m. in the 13th arrondissement of Marseille, Le Figaro learned from concordant sources. Called to the scene, the emergency services undertook a cardiac massage. Seriously injured, the victim was transported to the North hospital with a very serious life prognosis. He is currently in intensive care. “An investigation for attempted voluntary homicide is opened and entrusted to the Departmental Security,” indicate Marseille officials to Figaro.

The facts took place near the Sévigné Catholic school group, chemin du Merlan à la Rose. The victim, a military doctor at the Laveran hospital, was attacked for an as yet unknown reason when he was about to return to his car parked about fifty meters from the school. He was accompanied by his two children aged 3 and 7, educated in kindergarten and CP in the Catholic school, which he had just recovered. Sitting on a bench nearby, the aggressor emerged from behind before attacking his victim, striking him several stab wounds in the chest.

Controlled and disarmed by four passers-by, the attacker was arrested by the police with a Swiss army knife in his possession. This is Mohamed L., 23, born in Brignoles (Var). The individual is known to the police but not to territorial intelligence. According to several witnesses, the suspect shouted religious allegations during the attack, declaring in particular “to have acted in the name of God.” Placed in police custody, the man made “delusional remarks” evoking “God” and “the devil.” The police were unable to measure his blood alcohol level because of his “very agitated” state.

The motives of the defendant remain unclear
“The elements collected do not allow at this stage to establish the motivations of the respondent,” indicated Marseille officials to Figaro Wednesday, May 11. The day before, a police source told AFP that the terrorist hypothesis had been definitively ruled out by the investigators and that the attacker suffered from psychological disorders.

“After searching the home of the author, we can definitely rule out the terrorist hypothesis,” this source told AFP, specifying that there would be nothing to report on the religion or radicalization side. From the same source, the parents of the aggressor had indicated that their son “complained of psychiatric disorders for a few weeks, that he was arrested for this reason, and that he had disappeared from the home for 48 hours.”

“Thank you to the passers-by and the police for their quick reaction,” tweeted the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Tuesday at the start of the evening.