The man was arrested and taken into custody. On Sunday, the suspect attacked several people with a knife in the Lyon metro, injuring four people

In the early afternoon of Sunday 26 May, police officers from the anti-crime brigade (BAC) in Lyon arrested a man after he attacked several people with a knife on the metro, injuring four people, according to information obtained by H24 MEDIA from the public prosecutor’s office. An investigation has been opened for ‘attempted voluntary manslaughter’, the public prosecutor said in a statement.

The statement from the prefecture said that of the four injured, ‘none has a life-threatening prognosis: two were rescued in absolute emergency, a third in relative emergency’ and a fourth ‘slightly injured’. Several shocked witnesses were assisted by a psychological support unit.

The attack occurred between Debourg and Jean Jaurès metro stations. According to the initial investigation, the assailant was wielding a knife before attacking the victims without making any specific demands or having any prior dispute with another passenger, according to a source close to the case reported by H24 MEDIA.

The prefecture said that the man was apprehended by the national police near Jean Jaurès station in the city’s 7th arrondissement and taken into custody at 2:35pm, as indicated by the Lyon public prosecutor’s office. ‘Without the intervention of the police, the consequences could have been much more serious’, stressed Fabienne Buccio, Prefect of the Rhône, to the press, adding that ‘no police officers were injured’.

Witnesses were questioned by investigators, according to a source close to the case quoted by franceinfo. The 27-year-old assailant was known to the police for ordinary offences, but not to the intelligence services. The prefecture said that he ‘had been hospitalised several times for psychiatric problems’. Fabienne Buccio added that the suspect was subject to an obligation to leave the country (OQTF) issued by the Vienne prefecture in 2022.

Jean Jaurès station, which was closed to the public for a few hours, reopened at the end of the afternoon. ‘The City of Lyon condemns this particularly serious act’, said Mohamed Chihi, deputy mayor in charge of security, on X.

In her statement, Fabienne Buccio expressed her ‘support’ for the victims and their families. She also thanked the ‘staff of the interdepartmental directorate of the national police who arrested the suspect so quickly’, while praising the intervention of the fire brigade and the ambulance service.