Military member injured in attack at Gare de l’Est

An Operation Sentinelle soldier was attacked with a knife on the evening of Monday July 15 at the Gare de l’Est, according to a police source quoted by H24 MEDIA. He was hit in the shoulder, but his prognosis is not life-threatening. The perpetrator was quickly arrested by the police.

According to a source close to the investigation, the assailant shouted “Dieu est grand” (God is great) in French before stabbing the soldier, who was on patrol at the scene. The soldier, wounded between the shoulder blades, was evacuated to Percy hospital. Although seriously wounded, he is conscious.

Profile of the assailant

The assailant, a 40-year-old French citizen since 2006, is known for his severe psychiatric disorders. He is on file for a murder dating back to 2018, when he killed a person after an altercation in Châtelet-Les Halles, and had been placed in psychiatric care. Born in Kinshasa, Congo, the man said he wanted to take revenge on the military in his homeland. These statements will have to be confirmed by ongoing investigations.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed the attack on X (formerly Twitter), expressing that the soldier’s vital prognosis was not engaged and that the perpetrator had been arrested. The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, also sent his thoughts to the injured serviceman and expressed his support and gratitude to the armed forces for their essential role in the security of the French people.