4 toddlers gravely injured in french alps knife attack

4 toddlers gravely injured in french alps knife attack

The children, youngest aged 22 months and the oldest three years, suffer life-threatening injuries; a suspect, identified by police as a 31-year-old Syrian refugee, was detained; motives unknown.

As bystanders screamed for help, a man with a knife stabbed four young children at a lakeside park in the French Alps on Thursday, assaulting at least one in a stroller repeatedly. The children between 22 months and three years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.

A suspect, identified by the police as a 31-year-old Syrian, was detained in connection with the horrific attack in the Alpine and lakeside town of Annecy. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said he had refugee status in Sweden.

A prosecutor leading the investigation said the man’s motives were unknown, but did not appear to be terrorism-related.

The helplessness of the young victims and the savagery of the attack sickened France.

Footage out

Video appearing to show the attack in and around a children’s play park was posted on social media. The footage showed a man in dark glasses and with a blue scarf covering his head brandishing a knife, as people screamed for help.

He slashed at a man carrying rucksacks who tried to approach him. Inside the enclosed play park, a panicked woman frantically pushed a stroller as the attacker approached, yelling and ramming the stroller into the barriers around the site in her terror.

She tried to fend off the attacker but could not keep him from leaning over the stroller and stabbing downward repeatedly.

Afterwards, the man strolled almost casually out of the park, letting himself out through a gate, with the man carrying two rucksacks still chasing after him.

‘Nation in shock’

French President Emmanuel Macron described the assault as an “attack of absolute cowardice.” Of the victims, he said “children and an adult are between life and death.”

“The nation is in shock,” Macron tweeted.

A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV said he saw the attacker jumping on an elderly man, and stabbing him repeatedly. The witness said he yelled at police to act.

In Paris, lawmakers interrupted a debate to hold a moment of silence for the victims. The Assembly President, Yaël Braun-Pivet, said: “There are some very young children who are in critical condition, and I invite you to respect a minute of silence for them.”