It is around 5 p.m. this Saturday, January 14 when a man armed with a knife tries to stab a passerby, rue de Colmar in Strasbourg.
The latter, frightened, rushes into his car and manages to escape by quickly starting the engine.
But the aggressor does not stop there.
He walks towards a woman on a bicycle, accompanied by her two young children.
Faced with the knife pointed at her, the mother of the family tries to struggle and falls to the ground.
Read alsoStrasbourg: the BST, a muscular and well-equipped emergency police
An off-duty policeman, witness to the facts, then comes running.
The man "
who was passing by by chance
", according to information from the UNSA Police, tries to control the assailant without his service weapon, left at the police station.
The suspect tries to stab him in the head, without success.
Only the hood of his coat is pierced.
“
They fought and the policeman succeeded with the help of a delivery man on a bicycle to immobilize him
”, continues the police source in
Figaro
.
Once the specialized field brigade (BST) was there, the man was arrested and then taken into custody.
The track of the privileged attempted homicide
Information on the profile of the assailant is still scarce for the time being.
An investigation was opened and entrusted to the judicial police.
According to the first passerby attacked, the attacker was speaking Arabic.
Information confirmed by the police union, which specifies that he resumed speaking French during police custody, still in progress this Sunday at noon.
Read alsoInsecurity and the night, old accomplices
After more than twelve hours of police investigation, the track of the attempted homicide is privileged, without the terrorist act being ruled out.
The assailant's motives remained unclear.
In shock, the mother of the family was taken to the hospital.
Just like the policeman who was injured in the shoulder during the grounding of the suspect.
His intervention was welcomed by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Twitter.
He thanked the “
brave policeman who, outside his service, arrested a very threatening individual.
Thanks to his intervention, no victim is to be deplored
”.