2014 Nantes attack

2014 Nantes attack

The Place Royale Christmas market one year after the attack

Location of Loire-Atlantique within France
Location Place Royale, Nantes, France
Date 22 December 2014
Target Civilians
Attack type
Vehicular assault
Weapons White van
Deaths 1
Non-fatal injuries
10 (including the suspect)
Victim Virgile Porcher
Perpetrator Sébastien Sarron
Motive Suspected mental unbalance

On 22 December 2014, Sébastien Sarron ran over ten pedestrians in his white van at the Christmas market of the French city of Nantes, and then attempted suicide by stabbing himself. Ten people, including the suspect, suffered non-fatal injuries, and one person, a man by the name of Virgile Porcher, was pronounced clinically dead the following day.[1]

The attack came a day after a similar automotive attack on pedestrians in Dijon, and two days after a stabbing attack inside a police station in Joué-lès-Tours. Although the three attacks were treated as unrelated, the French government deployed 300 soldiers onto the nation's streets to heighten security afterwards.[2][3]

Suspect

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that the attacker in Nantes was "unbalanced".[2] There were initial reports that the attacker had shouted Allahu Akbar ("God is Great"), however, police stated that a notebook in his van contained "incoherent suicidal phrases",[4] and his fear of being murdered by the secret services.[5] A test found 1.80 g of alcohol per litre of blood, four times the maximum legal rate.[6]

The driver was Sébastien Sarron, a 38-years-old farmer from Berneuil near Saintes, Charente-Maritime,[7] After tending his wounds, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital on 31 December.[6] In January 2015 he was transferred to prison.[6] He was described as a loner, an alcoholic and paranoiac, but was declared by a psychiatrist as responsible enough to be tried.[1] He hanged himself in his isolation cell at the Nantes-Carquefou prison on the early morning of 13 April 2016.[1][5]

Reaction

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet announced an investigation into the Nantes attack, saying "I wouldn't say it was a terrorist attack. I would call it a deliberate act".

François Hollande, the President of France, ordered an emergency cabinet meeting as a result of the attack in Nantes.

Manuel Valls, the Prime Minister of France, aimed to reassure the French public that their concerns over the incidents would be listened to by the government.[2]

According to the Globe and Mail, the attack was "apparently inspired by a video" circulated by ISIL calling on French Muslims to attack non-Muslims using vehicles.[8]

See also

References

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