A German tourist was killed and two others were injured near the Eiffel Tower by an attacker who reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) before being arrested on Saturday night.
France’s Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, said the male suspect, a 26-year-old Paris native, was on French security services’ watch list and was also known for psychiatric disorders.
After his arrest on Saturday night, he expressed anguish about Muslims being killed in Palestine and claimed that France was an accomplice, Mr Darmanin said.
The attacker allegedly went after a German couple with a knife, killing one man at around 7pm GMT.
He was then chased by police, allegedly attacking two other people with a hammer before being arrested.
French media reported that a British tourist was among the victims, but that has not yet been confirmed by officials.
Mr Darmanin said that “police have courageously arrested” the male suspect, who appeared to be randomly targeting passers-by around the Quai de Grenelle, which is close to the Eiffel Tower.
“This person was ready to kill others,” Mr Darmanin said during a late-night press conference.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said the attacker is French, was born in 1997 and has been arrested in an investigation into murder and attempted murder.
Mr Darmanin said the unnamed suspect was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for planning another attack.
He was placed under surveillance following his release in 2020 and was undergoing psychiatric treatment, the minister said.
“Police officers have just bravely arrested an attacker going after passers-by in Paris, around the Quai de Grenelle,” Mr Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter shortly after the attack. “Please avoid the area.”
The attacker was stopped by police who twice fired a taser at him in the stomach, the minister said, praising the officers for their quick response and reiterating that “there would doubtless have been other dead.”
France has been under a terror alert and the attack raised the fear level in the French capital.
Saturday night’s incident in central Paris occurred less than eight months before the French capital hosts the Olympic Games and could raise questions about security at the global sporting event.
