A man arrested after a knife attack in the south-eastern French town of Annecy that injured four young children and two pensioners has been charged with attempted murder, local prosecutors said, reports RTE.
The suspected Syrian refugee is officially wanted for attempted murder and resisting arrest with a weapon after Thursday morning’s attack, prosecutors said.
The injured are no longer in a life-threatening condition, Annecy prosecutor Lise Bonnet-Mathis told a news conference.
However, four children aged 22 months to 3 years remain in the hospital.
Ms Bonnet-Mathis said Abdalmasih H “did not wish to speak” during his 48-hour stay in police custody or before the investigating judges, reports RTE.
He was examined by a psychiatrist, who concluded that his state of health was consistent with his time in prison.
Ms Bonnet-Mathis also reiterated that there was no evidence so far that the attacker was motivated by terrorism.
On Thursday, security sources said he had previously lived in Sweden for ten years, where he had been granted refugee status in April.
“He called me around four months ago. He was living in a church,” his ex-wife said on condition of anonymity, saying he left Sweden because he was unable to get Swedish nationality, reports RTE.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said he had entered France legally and was carrying Swedish identity documents and a Swedish driving licence.
She also said the suspect was “not known by any intelligence service,” reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.