French police have searched the home of a man suspected of driving a car into a group of soldiers in a Paris suburb, injuring six, to establish whether he has links to terrorist organisations, reports The Guardian.
The man, who police shot and arrested earlier on Wednesday after a motorway chase in northern France, was reported to be a 36-year-old living in a north-west outskirts of Paris. He was not believed to be on the national security list.
Police confirmed the black rented BMW stopped by armed officers was the same vehicle used in the attack, but were unable to confirm the involvement of the driver who was reportedly unarmed. He was taken to hospital in a “serious” condition after being shot five times near a petrol station between Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais. A police officer was injured by a stray bullet during the arrest.
After spotting the BMW on the motorway, police vehicles tried to force it to pull over, but the driver reportedly rammed several cars in an attempt to get away. Armed officers, despatched from Lille and Rouen, took over the chase. Police say they opened fire after the driver made a gesture that suggested he was about to pull out a gun.
The incident in Paris occurred at about 8am during the changeover of soldiers stationed at Place de Verdun, not far from the town hall in Levallois-Perret. Six members of the 35th infantry regiment were injured in the apparent ambush, three seriously. None has life-threatening injuries.
Patrick Balkany, mayor of Levallois-Perret, told BFMTV a BMW parked nearby appeared to have been waiting for the soldiers to leave their barracks. The vehicle was driven the wrong way down a one-way street before it struck the troops.
Balkany described the attack as a “deliberate aggression”.
He added: “It’s without doubt a deliberate act … This vehicle was waiting for them. The BMW accelerated very quickly the moment they came out. This happened in the middle of the town. It happened very quickly.
“Levallois is a calm place … this is an odious aggression against our military that nobody expected.”
The weekly council of ministers was taking place at the Élysée Palace as the first reports emerged. Counter-terrorism prosecutors later opened an investigation into “attempted murder of those in a position of authority linked to a terrorist organisation”.
Witnesses suggested the driver was the only person in the vehicle, which was allegedly parked in a cul-de-sac near Place de Verdun before the incident. The area was sealed off as security services continued their investigation. Police officials said the driver apparently rammed into the soldiers as they emerged from a building to approach their vehicles to start a new patrol shift.
Nadia LeProhon was startled by the loud crash outside her building and rushed outside to see two soldiers on the ground. Other soldiers ran after a speeding car, shouting: “After him. Follow that car.”
She said the scream that followed the crash still echoed in her head. “I’ll never forget that scream ... of pain and distress,” she said.
Jean-Claude Veillant, a nearby resident, said he saw two uniformed soldiers lying prone on the ground when he came down to the entrance of his building. “It was horrible,” he said, adding that both soldiers appeared to be in bad shape.