All four children — a 22-month-old, two 2-year-olds and a 3-year-old — were in critical condition after the attack, French public prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said in a news conference Thursday. One child was a visiting British tourist, another was Dutch, she said.
Video circulated online that The Washington Post verified was taken at the playground in Annecy showed a man with a scarf wrapped around his head brandishing a knife. “Jesus Christ!” screams a voice off camera. A man swings a backpack at the man, who then enters an area with climbing frames and artificial grass. He is seen approaching a screaming woman with a stroller before appearing to attack the child inside. Another video showed a man chasing the attacker away.
The suspect, who was arrested at the scene, is a 32-year-old Syrian national who had submitted a formal request for asylum in France that was under review at the time of the attack, police said. The man, whom police identified only by his first name, Abdalmasih, also had a Swedish driver’s license, police said. According to the French prosecutor, the man has had refugee status in Sweden for the past 10 years.
Preliminary information suggests that there is “no apparent terrorist motive,” though anti-terrorism authorities are investigating, said Bonnet-Mathis.
One of the adult victims was injured by the attacker but less severely; the other adult victim was injured both in the knife attack and when police shot at the attacker, the prosecutor said.
“We are in close contact with the French police authorities,” said Sofia Hellqvist, a spokeswoman for Swedish police.
“The Nation is in shock,” tweeted French President Emmanuel Macron. “Children and an adult are between life and death. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services mobilized.”
French lawmakers observed a minute of silence inside the National Assembly for the victims of the attack and their families.
Anthony Le Tallec, a former French soccer player, said in a series of Instagram videos early Thursday that he was jogging near Lake Annecy when he saw people running and shouting at others to do the same. One woman shouted at him to run because someone was “stabbing everyone,” including children, he said.
Le Tallec said he saw the suspect coming in his direction while police officers chased him. The suspect ran toward an older couple, Le Tallec said, and stabbed an older man.
Le Tallec said he later saw “children on the ground.”
“An individual committed an attack this morning in the Pâquier sector in Annecy, causing 6 victims, including 4 children,” who all received medical treatment, said authorities in the Haute-Savoie Department, where Annecy is located. “The emergency services and the security forces intervened very quickly.”
The attack came as France is under a territory-wide alert for terrorism. In the past decade, the country has been hit by several high-profile terrorist attacks planned by individuals with links to Islamist groups. The suspect’s name, Abdalmasih, is a common one among Middle Eastern Christians.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that now is not the time for debates about migration, and she called for a moment of “unity” and “solidarity” with the victims and their families.
Charlotte Caubel, France’s minister of state for children, said the attack was a sign of “the increase in violence in our society.”
“Once again, our children are the target,” she tweeted.
Around 10 a.m. local time, a Twitter account for the prefect of the Haute-Savoie department said a police operation was underway in the Jardin de l’Europe, a park on the northwestern bank of Annecy Lake, and the nearby Pâquier area. It asked residents to avoid the area.
Borne will travel to Annecy on Thursday, said National Assembly president Yaël Braun-Pivet.
“Abominable knife attack on children in a playground in Annecy,” tweeted Antoine Armand, a member of Parliament from Haute-Savoie. “We still know very little but all my support for the victims, relatives, law enforcement and rescue. With you in thoughts.”
Vanessa Schlesier in Berlin and Beatriz Rios contributed to this report.
