the suspect in police custody, the two girls released from the hospital

The psychological unit which was opened this afternoon will be active again tomorrow, the last day of class before the school holidays in Bas-Rhin.

The head of the medico-psychological emergency unit (Cupm) Dominique Mastelli explains that one of the goals of the unit is “to support children who have been in this exposed situation but also more broadly to welcome families who picked up the children right after school, and gave advice.”

The mayor of Souffelweyersheim, Pierre Perrin, assures that the Cupm is open to everyone, especially parents, and believes that “the two weeks of vacation will be good for both children and parents.”

Jeanne Barseghian, the mayor of Strasbourg, spoke on

“My thoughts also go to the student hospitalized this afternoon,” she wrote, referring to the schoolgirl who fell ill during the confinement of her school adjacent to the Dannenberger school.

An investigation was opened “on counts of attempted intentional homicide of minors aged 15 (and rebellion)”, confirmed the public prosecutor. She was entrusted to the Strasbourg gendarmerie research brigade.

“The motivations of the main suspect remain unknown at this stage, he highlighting his state of mental health,” concludes the public prosecutor.

The two children aged 7 and 11 who were attacked with a knife early in the afternoon have both been released from hospital.

They “present slight physical injuries”, notes the Strasbourg public prosecutor.

The oldest was injured in the neck when entering the schools at the Dannenberg school. The second was then slightly injured in the neck in a nearby square when the suspect started running. He injured him “in his race” when he passed the 7-year-old girl and her mother.

The man suspected of being the perpetrator of the stabbing attack was placed in police custody “after he rebelled during the arrest”, said the Strasbourg public prosecutor.

No element of radicalization is known about him, continues the prosecutor. There is also no evidence to link the attacks to a terrorist act.

The suspect arrested suffers from psychiatric problems and has already spent three stays in adapted structures, BFMTV learned from a source close to the investigation.

He has been out of treatment since November 2023 and attempted suicide in 2022, continues this same source. He disappeared last night in a suicidal state.

Although the parents of the students attending the confined school were able to retrieve their children, many are still very distressed by this attack.

“We were panicked, I cried with the mothers,” says a mother of students. “I said to myself ‘it’s okay, my daughter is hurt, she has something’.”

From now on, she indicates that she will “never again” let her children “go to school alone”. “It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this.”

The Bas-Rhin prefecture indicated that a 4th grade student at the Sept-Ardents college suffered a heart attack “during the confinement of the students at the time of the intervention of the police” following the attack in front of the Dannenberger school.

The college teams provided him with first aid and called emergency services. She was then transported to the Hautepierre emergency room in serious condition.

One of the students present at the school during the confinement explained to BFM Alsace that the situation was very distressing for her classmates. Many cried.

“We had to be seated,” says Cyrine. “The master told us not to panic. The door was locked.”

The Minister of National Education and Youth Nicole Belloubet reacted to the attack on the two girls, and “gives them all (her) support”.

She welcomes a “firm and immediate” reaction after the attack.

The parents of the students attending the Souffelweyersheim school near where the two attacks took place arrived in front of the establishment in dribs and drabs, while it was still confined.

Many learned of the situation through word of mouth, neighbors or colleagues. “I was panicked thinking about my son,” a mother reported to BFM Alsace.

“And especially since I don’t know what’s going on, so we’re a little worried. It pains me to know that something like that can happen in a school. We’re safer nowhere .”

The Bas-Rhin prefecture announced the opening of a medical-psychological emergency unit within the school.

This psychological unit will be extended as long as necessary to finally support students and their parents, specifies the Strasbourg rectorate to BFMTV.

The children of the elementary school located in the street where the attacks took place were confined to the school building, BFM Alsace learned from a municipal councilor.

The confinement was lifted around 4 p.m., after doubts were resolved by the gendarmes. The parents were able to pick up their children.

“The children are safe, there is no longer any danger,” reassures Jean-Baptiste Peyrat, chief of staff of the prefect of the Grand-Est.

The suspect was arrested a few minutes after the incident, without a knife in his hand. Five gendarmes participated in his arrest, without having to use their weapons.

The man, aged 30, is not known to the gendarmerie services, the latter told AFP, and his motivations “do not seem to be linked to radicalization”. A source close to the investigation told BFMTV that the man does not seem to have all his mental faculties.

A first little girl was attacked with a knife in a square around 2 p.m. The second was attacked near a school in Souffelweyersheim.

One of the two children was injured in the cheek in particular. They are both in relative emergency, specifies the Bas-Rhin prefecture, and were treated in pediatric emergencies for “superficial injuries”.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to the knife attack which occurred today near a school in Souffelweyersheim (Bas-Rhin).

Two girls aged 6 and 11 were slightly injured while the suspect was arrested.