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== Investigation ==
== Investigation ==
Initial reports suggested a workplace dispute was the motive. The day after the attack, a counter-terrorism investigation was opened,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49937446|title=Terror inquiry launched into Paris police killings|last=|first=|date=2019-10-04|work=[[BBC]]|access-date=2019-10-04|language=en-GB}}</ref> looking into whether the attacker was a radicalized Islamist and the possibility of having been in contact with or received support from any terrorist groups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/attaque-de-paris-le-parquet-antiterroriste-saisi-20191004|title=Attaque de Paris : l’enquête privilégie la piste terroriste|last=|first=|date=2019-10-04|website=www.lefigaro.fr|language=fr|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/world/europe/paris-police-stabbing.html|title=Terrorism Motive Eyed in Paris Police Stabbing Attack|last=Breeden|first=Aurelien|date=2019-10-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was alleged that he converted to [[Islam]] in 2008.<ref>[https://www.bfmtv.com/mediaplayer/video/ce-n-est-pas-la-personne-que-je-connaissais-l-incomprehension-d-un-ami-de-michael-harpon-qui-le-cotoyait-depuis-5-ans-1191952.html "Ce n'est pas la personne que je connaissais." L'incompréhension d'un ami de Michaël Harpon qui le côtoyait depuis 5 ans]</ref>
Initial reports suggested a workplace dispute was the motive. The day after the attack, a counter-terrorism investigation was opened,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49937446|title=Terror inquiry launched into Paris police killings|last=|first=|date=2019-10-04|work=[[BBC]]|access-date=2019-10-04|language=en-GB}}</ref> looking into whether the attacker was a radicalized Islamist and the possibility of having been in contact with or received support from any terrorist groups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/attaque-de-paris-le-parquet-antiterroriste-saisi-20191004|title=Attaque de Paris : l’enquête privilégie la piste terroriste|last=|first=|date=2019-10-04|website=www.lefigaro.fr|language=fr|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/world/europe/paris-police-stabbing.html|title=Terrorism Motive Eyed in Paris Police Stabbing Attack|last=Breeden|first=Aurelien|date=2019-10-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-10-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was alleged{{By whom|date=October 2019}} that he converted to [[Islam]] in 2008.<ref>[https://www.bfmtv.com/mediaplayer/video/ce-n-est-pas-la-personne-que-je-connaissais-l-incomprehension-d-un-ami-de-michael-harpon-qui-le-cotoyait-depuis-5-ans-1191952.html "Ce n'est pas la personne que je connaissais." L'incompréhension d'un ami de Michaël Harpon qui le côtoyait depuis 5 ans]</ref>


French Minister of the Interior [[Christophe Castaner]] claimed in a press conference that the attacker had never shown any conspicuous behaviour. A day after this statement, it became public that colleagues had reported Harpon as early as 2015 for voicing support for the [[Charlie Hebdo shooting|attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'']]. The complaint had been filed, but there was no investigation.<ref name="FAZ">{{Cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/messerattacke-in-paris-vertuschung-auf-hoechsten-befehl-16418097.html|title=Vertuschung auf höchsten Befehl|last=Wiegel|first=Michaela|date=2019-10-05|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |access-date=2019-10-05|language=de|}}</ref>
French Minister of the Interior [[Christophe Castaner]] claimed in a press conference that the attacker had never shown any conspicuous behaviour. A day after this statement, it became public that colleagues had reported Harpon as early as 2015 for voicing support for the [[Charlie Hebdo shooting|attack on ''Charlie Hebdo'']]. The complaint had been filed, but there was no investigation.<ref name="FAZ">{{Cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/messerattacke-in-paris-vertuschung-auf-hoechsten-befehl-16418097.html|title=Vertuschung auf höchsten Befehl|last=Wiegel|first=Michaela|date=2019-10-05|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |access-date=2019-10-05|language=de|}}</ref>

Revision as of 14:27, 5 October 2019

Paris police headquarters stabbing
Map of Île de la Cité
LocationParis, France
Coordinates48°51′14.4″N 2°20′48.8″E / 48.854000°N 2.346889°E / 48.854000; 2.346889
Date3 October 2019 (2019-10-03)
c. 1:00 p.m.[1]
TargetPolice employees
Attack type
Mass stabbing
WeaponsCeramic knife[2]
Deaths5 (including the attacker)
Injured1
PerpetratorMickaël Harpon

During the early afternoon of 3 October 2019, a police employee stabbed five colleagues at the Prefecture of Police on the Île de la Cité in central Paris, killing four of them.[3][4] Police shot the attacker dead.[4][5] The attack came a day after police went on strike across France over increasing violence towards officers.[6]

Those killed were three male police officers and one female member of the support staff.[7] The fifth victim, also a woman, was critically wounded and was evacuated to a nearby hospital by helicopter.[4][7] The attacker stabbed three men in the office area and two women on a stairway.[8][9]

Following the incident, the police headquarters building was visited by President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.[7] The Île de la Cité was placed under a lockdown and the Cité station of the Paris Métro, located on the island, was closed to passengers.[5]

Attacker

The attacker was reported as being 45-year-old Mickaël Harpon, an IT specialist who did administrative work at the station for the last 16 years of his life and held a military secrecy security clearance,[4][5] giving him access to restricted information like the watchlist of terror suspects, addresses of police officers and data on French citizens and their families who had returned after they fought in the Syrian Civil War.[10] He was born in Fort-de-France in the Caribbean overseas department of Martinique in 1974,[7] and had been deaf since childhood.[11] The murder weapon was a ceramic knife of a type undetectable by metal scanners.[12]

Investigation

Initial reports suggested a workplace dispute was the motive. The day after the attack, a counter-terrorism investigation was opened,[9] looking into whether the attacker was a radicalized Islamist and the possibility of having been in contact with or received support from any terrorist groups.[13][14] It was alleged[by whom?] that he converted to Islam in 2008.[15]

French Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner claimed in a press conference that the attacker had never shown any conspicuous behaviour. A day after this statement, it became public that colleagues had reported Harpon as early as 2015 for voicing support for the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The complaint had been filed, but there was no investigation.[10]


References

  1. ^ "Employee kills four with knife at Paris police HQ". BBC News. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  2. ^ "EN DIRECT – Attaque à la préfecture de police de Paris : quatre personnes tuées, l'assaillant abattu". FIGARO (in French). Oct 3, 2019. Retrieved Oct 3, 2019.
  3. ^ Bisserbe, Noemie. "Four Officers Killed by Employee at Paris Police Headquarters". WSJ. Retrieved Oct 3, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d "Paris police attack: Four killed by knife-wielding employee". BBC News. 3 October 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Paris stabbing: Four people killed in knife rampage at police HQ". Independent. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Paris police attack: Four killed by knife-wielding employee". BBC News. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d "Attaque dans la Préfecture de police de Paris : quatre personnes et l'assaillant sont morts" (in French). Le Monde. 3 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Four people killed in knife rampage at Paris police HQ". The Independent. 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  9. ^ a b "Terror inquiry launched into Paris police killings". BBC. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  10. ^ a b Wiegel, Michaela (2019-10-05). "Vertuschung auf höchsten Befehl". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2019-10-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ "Paris knifeman who fatally stabbed four people was 'trusted' deaf IT worker". Metro. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  12. ^ "Attaque au couteau à la préfecture de police de Paris : ce que l'on sait". Le Figaro (in French). 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019. Muni d'un couteau de cuisine en céramique, indétectable aux portiques de sécurité[needs translation]
  13. ^ "Attaque de Paris : l'enquête privilégie la piste terroriste". www.lefigaro.fr (in French). 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-10-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ Breeden, Aurelien (2019-10-04). "Terrorism Motive Eyed in Paris Police Stabbing Attack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  15. ^ "Ce n'est pas la personne que je connaissais." L'incompréhension d'un ami de Michaël Harpon qui le côtoyait depuis 5 ans
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