FILE - A general view outside of the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris, France, Wednesday Oct. 18, 2017. An assailant has injured three people in a stabbing attack at the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, the Olympic Games host city this year, Paris police said. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
PARIS (AP) – Paris’ police chief says an attack at the capital’s Gare de Lyon train station that injured three people Saturday does not appear to be terror-related. While cautioning that the police investigation is in its early stages, Laurent Nunez said there is no immediate evidence pointing toward terrorism. He said the suspected assailant appears to suffer from mental health issues. The man is suspected to have used a knife and a hammer in the attack that seriously injured one person and injured another two more lightly.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
PARIS (AP) – A man seemingly armed with a knife and a hammer injured three people Saturday in an early-morning attack at the major Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, another nerve-rattling security incident in the Olympic host city before the Summer Games open in six months.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said a security guard tackled the attacker who was taken into police custody. One of the injured was in a serious condition and the other two were more lightly hurt, police said.
The prosecutor’s office said a knife and a hammer appear to have been used in the attack at 7:35 a.m. Investigators are analyzing the weapons and the injured are being treated in hospital, the prosecutor’s office said.
The man’s motives have not yet been determined, it said. The attack was not immediately being treated as a possible terrorist incident. The police investigation was looking at a potential preliminary charge of attempted murder.
Posting on social media, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin described the attack as an “unbearable act” and thanked those who detained the assailant.
Security in Paris is being ramped up as it prepares to welcome 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the first Olympic Games in a century in the French capital.
The Games are to open with a massive open-air ceremony along the River Seine on July 26, a major security challenge in the city that has been repeatedly hit by terror attacks, most notably in 2015.
Most recently, a man targeted passersby near the Eiffel Tower in December, killing a German tourist with a knife and injuring two others.
The Gare de Lyon is one of the busiest train stations in Paris. It is a hub both for high-speed trains that link the capital to other cities and for commuter trains that serve the suburbs and towns in the Paris region.
