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The alleged perpetrator’s family says they didn’t even know he wanted to go to Europe. They are said to have spoken to him shortly before the attack.
A photo of Vincent Loques, the church servant who was killed in Notre Dame church, is found outside the church. Photo: ERIC GAILLARD, REUTERS / NTB
In a suburb on the outskirts of the Tunisian port city of Sfax, live the family of the 21-year-old accused of stabbing three people in the church of Notre-Dame in Nice.
The mother is crying. The others tell the Reuters news agency that they do not understand what has happened. According to a relative, they spoke with Brahim Aouissaoui, 21, a few hours before the attack.
He is later said to have told the family that he was looking for a place to sleep outside the church in Nice. He had shown them the area on video and said he planned to rest outside the building directly above the church, according to Reuters, who has spoken to the family.
A few hours later, they recognized the buildings that appeared on television. Three people were stabbed to death in the church, one of them nearly beheaded. The brother was arrested and charged with the crime. Police found two more knives, two phones and a Koran in the bag at the scene, according to Le Figaro.
The mother of the alleged perpetrator has been questioned along with several other relatives. They say the son showed no signs of radicalization before leaving for Europe. Photo: ZOUBEIR SOUISSI, REUTERS / NTB
– I didn’t tell him he was leaving
The family tells Reuters they are shocked by what the 21-year-old is accused of. According to them, he showed no signs of extremism.
But according to Tunisian media, the national police are now investigating whether an organization is involved in the attack. A spokesman for the country’s police said on Friday that the 21-year-old had been arrested for violence and use of knives in 2016.
The 21-year-old did not tell the family that he planned to go to Europe, the brother says.
“We were surprised when he told us that he had come to Italy,” he told Reuters.
Now the French police are trying to find out what happened and why.
France’s interior minister says the country is at war with Islamist ideology and fears more attacks. Security is being reinforced outside places of worship and schools across the country.
Here’s what we know about the 21-year-old’s movements before Thursday this week and about the victims who were brutally murdered.
Many have come to the Notre-Dame church and have left candles and flowers. Photo: ERIC GAILLARD, REUTERS / NTB
The road to France
September 14, 2020
Tunisian Brahim Aouissaoui, 21, leaves Tunis by boat, according to Aljazeera. He was not on the police list of possible perpetrators or extremists.
September 20
The 21-year-old Tunisian arrives by sea on the Italian island of Lampedusa. Lampedusa has been a destination for many years for many migrants who cross the Mediterranean by boat. According to the Italian authorities, it is most likely that he got on a small boat. On the island, they put him in corona quarantine for 14 days.
October 9
Then the man is transferred to the city of Bari on the Italian mainland. He is ordered to leave the country within seven days. Then he travels illegally to France by train. It is said that he did not apply for asylum, is not registered with the police and did not have identification documents. It is not clear what day he will leave Italy, where in France he will go and what he did until Thursday of this week.
October 29th. The attack in Nice.
06.47: The 21-year-old arrives at the train station in the center of Nice, Gare de Nice-Ville. Appear in video surveillance on the site. He stayed here for 26 minutes, according to police. He changes his clothes and twists his outer jacket.
08:13: Walk the 400 meters to the Notre-Dame church, right on the main shopping street in Nice. Police have not said anything about the video call the family claims to have with him, or when it may have taken place.
08/29: The 21-year-old enters the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de l’Assomption. According to the police, he then takes out the knife and starts the attack.
8.54: A 44-year-old Brazilian woman stabbed tries to escape the attacker and runs out of the church. It makes outsiders understand what is happening. The woman manages to cross the street, but dies from her injuries inside or outside a café on Rue d’Italie, a street lined with cafes and shops. At the same time, someone runs into a bakery and warns. Police are said to have been at the scene half a minute after the alarm button was activated.
A little before 9. Four local police officers are the first to arrive. They enter the church through the Rue d’Italie entrance. According to the police, the author approached them in a threatening manner and shouted “Allahu Akbar”. The police shoot the man and take him to hospital.
The victims of Notre-Dame
Outside the Notre Dame church, people are now mourning the horrific murders. Most likely, the victims were random people who were at church this Thursday morning.
Photo: ERIC GAILLARD, REUTERS / NTB
A photo of the church servant Vincent Loques is posted outside the church. He had just gotten to work when he was stabbed and killed.
Simone Barreto Silva from Brazil managed to escape, but died from injuries sustained by the perpetrator.
- Church servant Vincent Loques (55) had just arrived at work at Notre-Dame when the knife attack began. Loques is said to have been stabbed in the neck and killed on the spot.
- An anonymous woman in her 60s was attacked in the neck and nearly beheaded, according to Le Monde.
- The third victim, Simone Barreto Silva (44), managed to escape, but died shortly after from her injuries. She was from Brazil but lived in France. Witnesses have said that the last thing the stepmother managed to say was: “Tell my children that I love them.”
We don’t know this
The attack leaves many questions unanswered.
- No information has emerged from the questioning of the 21-year-old arrested. It is not known if he gave a motive, but he is said to have yelled “Allahu Akbar” during the attack and President Emmanuel Macron has called the incident an “Islamist terrorist attack”.
- It is unclear if the perpetrator acted on his own, had assistants or is a member of a terrorist group or organization. When did you receive the knives? Who has he possibly had contact with? The detainee must not have been known to either the Tunisian or the French police. On Thursday night, a 47-year-old man was arrested and questioned in Nice, suspected of having been in contact with the 21-year-old and helping him obtain a phone. In addition, the Tunisian police are investigating whether an identified group exists and may have carried out the attacks.
- The movements of the 21-year-old from leaving Italy until he arrived in Nice are unknown.
- The killings occurred less than two weeks after a teacher was beheaded after showing Muhammad cartoons in a class on freedom of expression. It is not known if the stabbings in the Notre-Dame church are directly related to this and the ensuing debate over freedom of expression and Islamism in France.
