PARIS: 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 3 years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.
A suspect, identified by 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.
Lead prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said all four children suffered life-threatening knife wounds. The youngest is 22 months old, two are age 2 and the oldest is 3, she said. Two of them were tourists, she said.