Villejuif stabbing

On 3 January 2020 in Villejuif, an assailant killed a man and wounded two other people with a knife before being shot dead by responding police.
Attack
A man went on a knife rampage in a park in Villejuif, Val-de-Marne, France. He shouted "Allah akbar" against a man, and tried to stab him, but he escaped unharmed. Then the assailant knifed three people, stabbing to death a man in his heart and seriously wounding his wife in the throat. A second woman, who was jogging in the area, was also wounded with multiple back stabs. The assailant then tried to stab the groundskeeper and a homeless man, but they escaped in time without any injury. The attack took place outside a supermarket and the targets have been chosen at random. It was reported that the attacker was wearing a djellaba and was bare footed. He tried to stab more people but they managed to evade him. He shouted "Allahu akbar" when police of the BAC (French: brigade anticriminalité) arrived. They shot him once; as he got up while putting his hand in his pocket he was shot again with an assault rifle on suspicion that he was wearing an explosive belt. This turned out to not be the case on closer investigation. male born in 1997 in Les Lilas, who suffered from psychiatric disorders. He was shot dead by police during the attack.
Investigation
On 5 January, Counter-terror prosecutors started to investigate the attack. Officials quoted that the attacker had a history of mental health problems, but prosecutors said that "an act of terrorism cannot be ruled out just because a person has psychiatric problems". Philippe Bugeaud, deputy director of the regional judicial police, said there were a number of religious books in the 22-year-old attacker's bag, including Salafist ones.
Aftermath
Secretary of state Laurent Nuñez praised the speedy response of the police which he maintained had prevented further casualties.

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