"I pledge allegiance to Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, the new emir of ISIS and a worthy heir to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi ..." This was written by Youssef T., the motorist who ran into the police on Monday evening in Colombes (Hauts-de-Seine), on a handwritten letter from a page discovered in his black BWM series 1. The young man of 29 years alludes to the head of Daesh in the Sahel, a jihadist hunted down throughout West Africa and whose group is considered the most dangerous by the French force Barkhane.
This explicit letter on the terrorist motivations of the madman is one of the reasons why the national antiterrorism parquet (Pnat) seized the investigation Monday evening. "May God accept my martyr", writes Youssef T. again, justifying his attack on the ram car by the desire "to throw himself headlong into the battle to impose sharia on the whole earth". Formulas with traditional jihadist semantics. A psychiatric examination of the suspect, placed in police custody in the anti-terrorist section (Sat) of the Paris criminal brigade, also concluded in the morning that there had been no alteration or abolition of his discernment.
Monday late afternoon, Youssef T. leaves his apartment in the Audra city of Colombes and climbs aboard his sedan. Around 5:15 p.m., he struck two bikers from the Paris police headquarters at high speed, as well as a municipal police car, deployed as part of a roadside check related to confinement. Two officials are seriously injured, suffering from head trauma and various fractures. A third is more slightly affected.
Unknown from intelligence services
Arrested on the spot, Youssef T., French born in Lunéville (Meurthe-et-Moselle), is unknown to the intelligence services. His criminal record mentions a conviction in 2010 for acts of violence committed two years earlier in Saverne (Bas-Rhin). The justice system first questions an act of imbalance since his background also reveals a dementia crisis in 2012. At the time, police officers had intervened at his home in Seine-Saint-Denis, alerted by a member of his family who reported his "inconsistent behavior". But the case will not go beyond. Youssef T. is not known for other episodes of this type.
VIDEO. Colombes: a motorist rushes at the police, two injured
During his short first hearing, the presumed terrorist assumes, on the contrary, having committed an act in the name of religion, displaying a chilling determination. According to sources close to the investigation, he claims to be a major consumer of videos on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the plight of the residents of Gaza. "I watch a lot of videos on Palestinian children, especially during confinement," he said to the investigators. Activist of the Palestinian cause, the man also participated in the pro-Gaza demonstrations which had degenerated in Paris in 2014.
"He's a real radical," insists a source close to the investigation. He expresses himself very well, is not confused. Apart from his psychiatric history, nothing suggests that he could be mad. Youssef T. nevertheless told investigators that he repeatedly hears "voices". On the day of the attack, the same "voices", which he describes as "the spirit of Palestine", allegedly pushed him "to attack the police".
A “hybrid” profile
Like the authors of the last three terrorist attacks in France (Paris police headquarters, Villejuif and Romans-sur-Isère), the young man could have this “hybrid” profile between religious radicalization and psychological fragility. Investigators are trying to find relatives who could clarify his state of mind. But it appears that Youssef T. was a lonely young man, single and living alone in his apartment in Colombes. He was also not known to the neighborhood mosque.
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The investigation, entrusted to the criminal brigade and the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI), continues. The police await the result of the exploitation of his phone but initial investigations reveal that he was a consumer of religious literature. The trail of complicity and ambush for the victims is for the moment dismissed. Another man, 22, was taken into police custody on Monday evening. It is the driver of the Peugeot who was controlled by the bikers when they were struck by the assailant.
He said he did not know Youssef T. and was jailed on Monday as part of an old stupo conviction. As for the driver of a scooter who had evaded a check just before the collision and called the man to the Peugeot to assist him, he became a prisoner. In the absence of elements linking him to the terrorist attack, he was taken to the departmental security of 92 for "refusal to comply".
