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A French teacher who had shown his students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was beheaded near Paris on Friday, and his attacker was shot dead by police.
The victim was a history professor at Conflans Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris region. The teacher was assassinated not far from the university where he worked. The events took place around 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT).
The suspect was shot and killed
Police officers from the crime squad in Conflans Saint-Honorine, a city about 50 km northwest of Paris, have been called by a suspicious individual near a school. At the scene, the police discovered the beheaded victim and, 200 meters away, in the commune of Eragny, they tried to arrest a man who was threatening them with a knife. Because the suspect did not comply with the summons, the police shot him and seriously injured him. The alleged attacker died shortly after from his injuries.
The moment when the police shoot the man suspected of beheading a history teacher in a Paris suburb was captured by a young man from the neighborhood, who he filmed with his mobile phone.
What the witness saw
While at his parents’ home in the Grillon district of Eragny (Val-d’Oise), the young man was alerted to the noise he heard outside. He looked out the window and saw a man running as police got out of the cars. Reflectively, the young man took his mobile phone and began filming. He caught the policemen yelling several times: “Stop, on the ground, lying down, drop the gun!”
According to media reports, the suspect shouted “Allah Akbar” before being killed by the police.
“I don’t know what the man yelled, but I saw him dressed in light-colored clothing. The police summoned him several times, ”said the witness. Things rushed up, then he heard repeated shots, at least ten, was shocked and stopped filming. This is what he managed to capture with his mobile phone:
What is known about the author of the attack
The neighborhood was isolated, flashing lights from police cars were everywhere, and people were asked to stay in their homes. Engineers arrived to check if the person shot did not have a bomb and prosecutors from the Antiterrorist Prosecutor opened an investigation.
Late at night, four people around the suspect, including a minor, were arrested.
According to the French press, the suspect is a young man born in Moscow, Abdulah A., of Chechen origin, who was 18 years old. He did not appear in the police database as having ties to terrorism, but would still have a criminal record for common law crimes, writes Le Parisien. The young man allegedly resorted to beheading the teacher for religious reasons and allegedly posted images of the beheaded victim on his Twitter account, assuming his deeds.
The local community, students and parents at the university where the teacher who suffered such a horrible death teaches are in shock. They say that the victim was a discreet, benevolent man, appreciated by students and classmates. A history-geography teacher, he had spoken with his students a few days ago about freedom of expression and had shown them in class the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published by the satirical weekly. Charlie Hebdo, those that generated controversy five years ago, but also other tragic events.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
