The day after the attack which injured several people at the Gare du Nord on Wednesday morning, the suspect was taken into custody for attempted murder, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Thursday.
The state of health of this man, who was shot and wounded by the police, was deemed compatible with such a measure, according to the prosecution.
This man in his twenties, whose identity is uncertain, injured "without apparent reason at this stage" six people, including one seriously, with a punch at the Gare du Nord in Paris, before being overpowered by police officers who shot him.
According to a press release from Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, “it could be a man born in Libya or Algeria and (aged) in his twenties”.
Under an OQTF
The suspect is "registered under several identities in the automated fingerprint file fed by his statements during previous procedures to which he has been subject", she added.
According to a police source, the suspect is Libyan, born in 2000 and arrived in France three years ago, under an obligation to leave French territory (OQTF) and known to the police for acts of common law .
The French authorities are not deporting to Libya because of the political instability which reigns in this country, torn apart since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2012 by clashes between rival factions, argued with AFP the ministry of Interior.
France maintains "no exchange channel for the identification of Libyan nationals", it was added.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office in "evaluation"
Nothing in the investigation allowed Wednesday evening to evoke a terrorist attack, according to a source familiar with the matter.
This hypothesis "is not preferred", it was commented.
The National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) told AFP that it was "under evaluation".
An investigation for attempted murder was opened by the Paris prosecutor's office and entrusted to the judicial police.
The suspect, who used a "metal hook", "suddenly began, for no apparent reason at this stage, to hit a first victim with his weapon, a victim to whom he struck about twenty blows", detailed Ms. Beccuau, who went to the scene.