A man has run over pedestrians and cyclists on the French island of Oleron, injuring five people, and is reported to have shouted slogans in Arabic during his arrest, Reuters reports.
Officials, including French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, said the motive for the incident was not yet known, adding that the man arrested was not on a list of radicalized individuals. Nunez told reporters that the man set off shortly before 9 a.m. on the morning of the 5th of November, deliberately running over people in his path, injuring five pedestrians and cyclists during the 35-minute journey. The man has been seen running over people in various locations across the island. Nunez confirmed that the man shouted “Allahu Akbar,” meaning “God is great,” during the arrest, but that was only part of the investigation.
The island’s mayor, Thibault Brechkoff, said the man arrested was a 35-year-old local fisherman. Two of the victims were seriously injured.
Nine people were initially reported injured.
Nunez said the investigation is not being led by the Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, but by the local prosecutor’s office. Olivier Falorni, a member of parliament for Oleron, told reporters in Paris that the man had lived on the island, and all the victims had lived there, and that he had no idea at this time whether it was a revenge attack or an Islamist attack. “Is there a political motive? Is it someone mentally unstable who snapped?” Falorni said.
The newspaper Le Parisien reported that investigators are examining the possibility that the attacker may be mentally ill. The man is known to police for minor offenses, including drunk driving and drug offenses. However, he has not been in the sights of the security services.
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