2014 Tours police station stabbing
| 2014 Tours stabbing attack | |
|---|---|
 Location of Indre-et-Loire within France | |
| Location | Joué-lès-Tours |
| Date | December 20, 2014 |
| Target | Police officers |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Weapons | Knife |
| Deaths | 1 (the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 3 |
| Perpetrator | Bertrand Nzohabonayo |
On 20 December 2014, a man in Joué-lès-Tours near the city of Tours in central France entered a police station and attacked officers with a knife, injuring three before he was shot and killed.
Perpetrator
The attacker was identified as Bertrand Nzohabonayo, age 20, a French citizen and former rap musician born in Burundi in 1994, he was known to the police for minor crimes but was not on any watchlist.[1][2][3][4] The attacker had taken Bilal as his new name upon conversion to Islam, and had been posting Islamist material on his Facebook page, including a photograph of the black flag of the Islamic State.[5][6]
In Burundi, police arrested the attacker's brother, Brice Nzohabonayo, a man with known Islamist sympathies, and claimed that they had informed French authorities the previous year that both brothers should be regarded as suspect due to their extreme religious views.[7]
Aftermath
This attack, and others, were described by CNN as part of a "drumbeat of terror" which struck France in the weeks preceding the Charlie Hebdo shooting.[5][8][9][10]
The attack was not officially categorized as a terrorist attack,[5] though anti-terrorism investigators opened an inquiry.[11] Following this attack and incidents in Nantes and Dijon, which were deemed unrelated to each other, the French government heightened the nation's security.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "French police shoot dead knifeman who was shouting Islamic slogans". The Daily Telegraph. December 20, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Lichfield, John (December 21, 2014). "Man shot dead by police in jihadist attack in Tours". The Independent. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ Rodrigues, Jason (January 16, 2015). "Terror attacks in Europe: the five danger zones". The Guardian. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ "France Dijon: Driver targets city pedestrians". BBC News. December 21, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
- ^ a b c Cruickshank, Paul (November 16, 2015). "Drumbeat of terror precedes slaughter that shocks France and the world". CNN. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ Mulholland, Rory (December 21, 2014). "French knife attacker Bertrand Nzohabonayo was Islamic convert; Man shot dead by French police had changed name to Bilal and posted ISIL flag on Facebook". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ "Burundi arrests brother of suspect in French police attack". France 24. December 22, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Lane, Oliver (January 12, 2015). "In Pictures: France's Three Weeks of Terror". Breitbart. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ "Paris terror attacks: West Yorkshire man, 21, arrested after Facebook post praises massacre". The Daily Telegraph. November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ Molinié, William (November 15, 2015). "Merah, Kouachi, Belhoucine, Nzohabonayo… Le terrorisme islamiste, une affaire de frères?". 20 minutes (France). Retrieved November 17, 2015.
- ^ a b "France to deploy soldiers after spate of attacks". BBC News. December 23, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
