French ID second church attacker; police had report on him

July 22 with a warning that he could be planning an attack.

Four days later, Petitjean and a 19-year-old local man, Adel Kermiche, stormed the church in SaintEtienne-du-Rouvray during morning Mass. They held five people hostage — the priest, two nuns and an elderly couple — before fatally slashing the priest’s throat and seriously wounding the other man. Another nun at the Mass slipped away and raised the alarm. Police shot to death both attackers as they left the church.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility and released a video Wednesday allegedly showing Kermiche and Petitjean clasping hands and pledging allegiance to IS.

Prosecutors said Petitjean was born in Saint-Die-des-Vosges, eastern France, but most recently lived in the Alpine town of Aix-les-Bains where his mother lives. Kermiche was from Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

A youth aged about 16 who was detained after the attack was still being questioned Thursday, the prosecutor’s office said.

Thursday’s revelations showed that anti-terrorist authorities came close twice to identifying Petitjean as a threat — but couldn’t put his name to his picture as part of two disconnected intelligence tipoffs.

First, according to a French security official, France received a report from Turkish counterparts that Petitjean was seen passing through a Turkish airport June 10 destined for Syria. France duly placed Petitjean’s name on a long list of names of French residents who travel to Syria and Iraq, either to fight with IS forces or simply to live among them. The database of citizens considered a potential danger is used to maintain a lookout for militants returning from the war zone.