Paris police attack: 'Four killed' by knife-wielding man

[mountaineer]

Paris police attack: 'Four killed' by knife-wielding man
16 minutes ago
BBC

A knife-wielding man has killed four officers outside central police headquarters in Paris, French media report.

The attacker, who was reported to be a member of staff inside the building, was later shot dead by police.

The area in the île de la Cité - in the centre of Paris - has been sealed off.    ...

More

[mountaineer]

Four dead in Paris police headquarters attack

Four people have been killed in the stabbing at the Paris police headquarters, according to CNN affiliate BFM TV.

Loïc Travers, a police union secretary, told BFM TV that five were dead, including the attacker.

The motive of the attacker, who was a longtime administrative employee for the police, is still unknown. “He has been with us for over 20 years," Travers said, speaking outside the police headquarters.

CNN

[Gefn]

@mountaineer

I was going to post- gmta

[mountaineer]

  @Gefn


...  There was no word on the motive for the attack, which took place in the heart of the French capital near Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The area around the police headquarters was sealed off and the nearest metro station was shut for security reasons, the transport authority said.  ...  Reuters

[mountaineer]

..  The motive for the attack remains unknown. According to police the attacker suffered a "moment of madness".

France 24's live blog on the attack

[Sanguine]

Predictably:

Deaf Islamic convert is named as Paris police HQ attacker: IT worker who fell out with supervisor 'after he refused to deal with women' slaughters four colleagues, including female officer, with a knife - as police arrest Muslim wife

A deaf civilian police worker who had recently converted to Islam was shot dead in Paris today after murdering four colleagues with a ceramic knife following a 'dispute over working with female colleagues'.

Michael Harpon, 45, caused the bloodbath in the French capital's historic Police Prefecture, next door to Notre Dame Cathedral.

Investigators have not ruled out a possible terrorist motivation for the Thursday afternoon attack, which left a woman and three men dead.

All were repeatedly stabbed by Harpon, who had worked in the IT department at the Prefecture since 2003, in the worst loss of French police lives in a single day since World War II....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7533375/amp/Knifeman-attacks-police-officers-Paris-police-station.html?__twitter_impression=true

[mountaineer]

[Fishrrman]

When I read this:
"the attacker, who was reported to be a member of staff inside the building, was later shot dead by police."

First thoughts that came to mind were:
What was his name?
Was he muslim?

Then I read on and found this in reply 5:
"A deaf civilian police worker who had recently converted to Islam was shot dead in Paris today after murdering four colleagues with a ceramic knife following a 'dispute over working with female colleagues'."

Tells me all I need to know right there.

[TomSea]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/paris-police-attack-no-suggestion-of-terrorism/2019/10/04/c0401f86-e6b9-11e9-b0a6-3d03721b85ef_story.html
"French prosecutors opened an investigation Friday that treats the fatal knife attack that a civilian employee carried out at Paris police headquarters as a potential act of terrorism."

[TomSea]

Convert I believe.

Paris police killer had ‘radical vision of Islam,’ French officials say
Mickael Harpon, who stabbed four colleagues to death, had been in contact with members of the Salafist movement, believed in rightness of atrocities committed in its name
By AFP   Today, 6:53 pm 0



https://www.timesofisrael.com/paris-police-attacker-had-radical-vision-of-islam-french-officials-say/

[mountaineer]

Convert I believe.

Yes, it was reported he married a Muslim woman a few years ago and converted to her so-called religion about 18 months ago.

[mountaineer]

UPDATE
Turns out he wasn't a recent convert. Some people expressed concerned about his radicalism but authorities did nothing (probably didn't want to appear islamophobic).

Twitter thread from Andy Ngo:

Andy Ngo @MrAndyNgo
Prosecutors in Paris have revealed that the Muslim covert who went on the knife stabbing rampage followed radical Islam, defended jihadist attacks and recently began to change his dress style. He texted his wife a religious message before stabbing five people, killing four.

Questions raised as to how an openly radical Muslim was able to launch an attack on colleagues at a Paris police precinct where he worked. His comments in support of jihad were indeed reported to higher-ranking officers but nothing was ever done.

The NYT reports that the jihadist was a long term convert to Islam, not a recent one as initially stated. He was extremely devout, where he always attended a local mosque that featured a radical imam. The murder rampage was originally described as a workplace dispute.

The jihadist’s Facebook page features posts about radical Islam, Palestine & Syria. He slit the throat of a police major, stabbed to death an officer, an administrative employee and a female officer at the central police headquarters.

If you can read it (I'm not registered there), here's a link to the NYT story: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/05/world/europe/paris-knife-attack.html

[Wingnut]

He should have been dead after the 1st slice?   WTF.  DO the frog cops lock their guns up in the station house?

[mountaineer]

He should have been dead after the 1st slice?   WTF.  DO the frog cops lock their guns up in the station house?

They were busy looking for a white flag.

[jafo2010]

Now the b*st*rd is a good muslim....dead.

[TomSea]

To be fair, I've thought at times, at a convenience store near us, the police "can" go sit at a counter and if someone had it in for them, I do think they could cause some damage.

This attack happened inside the precinct, so from my understanding, a male officer was killed, a female officer was killed and a staff worker and I guess the attacker themselves. One can catch people off-guard and the police should feel at least, somewhat safe inside the police department.