This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
An Afghan asylum-seeker who fatally stabbed one person and wounded eight others in France was under the influence of drugs and experiencing “paranoid delirium,” a regional prosecutor said on September 1 as reported by the AP news agency.
He was in a “psychotic state” during the stabbing and reported hearing “voices” telling him to kill, prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet said.
The suspect started attacking people with a knife on August 31 outside a subway station in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne.
A group of passers-by apprehended him before the police arrived.
The 33-year-old suspect’s identity wasn’t made available to the public and isn’t listed on any radicalism watch list. A police search of his residence found two knives and no radical literature.
He has been living at a French center for asylum-seekers and was in possession of a temporary French residency card.
French cities are on high alert following several deadly attacks blamed on Islamic extremists in 2015 and 2016.
