April 5, 2020 – French counter-terrorism police are investigating a stabbing incident in which two people were killed and five injured.
A 33-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker was arrested after the attack at Romans-sur-Isère, in the Drôme department in south-east France, on Saturday morning.
The suspect entered a tobacconist shop on Saturday morning and allegedly attacked the owner and injured the shopkeeper’s wife when she tried to help her husband. He then went to a nearby butcher’s where witnesses said he jumped over the counter, grabbed another knife and stabbed a customer before running out and attacking passersby in the street
Two other men, both said to be from Sudan, one of whom shared a flat with the suspect, are also being questioned in police custody.
The suspect, who arrived in France in 2017 has been suffering from some mental disorders since , he was granted refugee status and given a 10-year residency permit, moved to Romans-sur-Isère in January after two years in Moras-en-Valloire, to the north, where he worked in a leather goods store.