A knifeman who viciously stabbed a rail user in the neck after he bumped into him at a subway station in the French city of Lyon has been arrested.
A relative of the attacker is said to have reported him to the police having recognised him when a video of the horrific assault went viral online.
Police then arrested the alleged knifeman on Wednesday night in his home in the Venissieux neighbourhood.
President of Lyon Bruno Bernard made a statement on X on Wednesday night to announce the arrest.
‘Since Sunday, we have been looking for an individual who attacked a user of our metro with a knife following a stampede.
‘This heinous attack quickly mobilized our services, we immediately transmitted our video surveillance images to the police. The individual has just been arrested’, he wrote.
Bernard went on to thank the national police for their ‘rapid’ efforts to investigate the incident.
‘Our thoughts also go out to those who were victims of this act’, he added.
According to local news outlet Lyon Mag, the attacker was already known to police.
The disturbing encounter took place shortly after the attacker disembarked a train at the Guillotière metro station in Lyon on Sunday.
He was captured on CCTV footage exiting the platform and walking towards the stairs, just as another man accidentally stumbled into him.
They appeared to share a brief exchange before the attacker chases after the stranger and plunges a knife into his neck.
He then casually walked away, while the victim placed his hand on the wound and looked around in confusion – seemingly unaware he had just been stabbed.
The attacker immediately fled the scene after the attack and police were desperately searching for the suspect.
Meanwhile, the victim was treated by emergency services at the scene and taken to hospital.
One source told Frontières it was a ‘miracle’ the man survived the attack and took just five days off work to recover.
However, it is unknown how severe his injuries were.
The Guillotière metro station lies in the centre of Lyon, close to the River Rhona and was put into service in 1991.
The brutal attack is the latest episode of violence to hit France with a wave of gang-land murders and rioting rocking the country in recent years.
In November the city of Poitiers saw a bloody shoot-out between some 400 gang members.
Clashes broke out in front of a restaurant on November 2 after shots were ‘fired from a passing car, injuring a number of people’, before police could deploy tear gas and storm in to try to restore order.
France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned in November that the country was at ‘tipping point’ on drug-related violence.
The right-wing politician also said that France could come to resemble Mexico, deeply scarred by cartel violence, if action is not taken.
A 15-year-old boy shot in the head during the clashes died from his wounds.
Four other minors, aged between 15 and 16, were also injured by gunshots fired in front of a restaurant during the incident.
Retailleau called for the battle against drug violence to become a ‘nationwide effort’ since becoming interior minister in Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s shaky minority government.
‘The ‘narco thugs’ have no limits anymore… These shootouts aren’t happening in South America, they’re happening in Rennes, in Poitiers… we’re at a tipping point,’ Retailleau told BFMTV at the time.
‘These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this part of western France once known for its tranquility’, he starkly said.
It comes as gangland violence long associated with Mediterranean port city Marseille has expanded into other French cities in recent years.
Victims can include gang members, some of them minors guarding dealing spots or employed as hitmen, but also innocent bystanders.
A year prior, rioting and looting spread across France following the ‘execution’ killing of a teenager in Paris.
On the night of June 30, 2023, police were locked in fierce clashes with protesters, making 650 arrests nationwide overnight – as public anger spilled out onto the streets of France’s major cities.
Protesters torched cars, barricaded roads and hurled projectiles at police. Other rioters scrawled ‘Vengeance for Nahel’ across buildings and bus shelters as a bank was set ablaze.
And in a further escalation of the chaos, violent clashes reportedly spread into the Belgium capital of Brussels
The disorder was reportedly arranged over social media in response to the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. who was shot dead in his car by French police.
About a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the killing of the teenager.
