San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
CHILDREN STABBED IN FRANCE RECOVERING
Suspect in attack charged with attempted murder
Four young children stabbed in a playground in the French Alps are no longer in life-threatening condition but remain hospitalized, the regional prosecutor said Saturday, as the suspected attacker was handed preliminary charges of attempted murder.
The victims came from multiple countries, and the impact from the attack Thursday reverberated across France and beyond. The children who were stabbed, between 22 months and 3 years old, were in hospitals in France and Switzerland.
The suspect, a 31-yearold Syrian refugee with permanent Swedish residency, has a 3-year-old daughter living in Sweden, regional prosecutor Line Bonnetmathis told reporters Saturday. Witnesses told investigators that the suspect mentioned his daughter, his wife and Jesus Christ during the attack Thursday targeting a playground in the lakeside town of Annecy.
The suspected attacker, whose name was not released, was presented to investigating judges in Annecy on Saturday and given charges of attempted murder and armed resistance, Bonnet-mathis said. He is in custody pending further investigation.
The suspect refused to talk to investigators, and was examined by a psychiatrist and other doctors who deemed him fit to face charges, the prosecutor said. She said that the motive remained unclear, but it didn't appear to be terrorism-related.
The suspected attacker wore a cross and carried two Christian images with him at the time of the attack, the prosecutor said. He also had 480 euros in cash with him and a Swedish driver's license, and had been sleeping in the common area of an Annecy apartment building.
He had traveled from Sweden to Italy and Switzerland before coming to France last October, and French police are coordinating with colleagues in those countries to learn more about his trajectory, said Damien Delaby, director of the regional judicial police.
The child victims were two French 2-year-old cousins, a boy and a girl, who were on the playground with their grandmother when the assailant appeared; a British 3year-old girl visiting Annecy with her parents; and a 22month-old Dutch girl, according to the prosecutor.