Backpack hero saves children in French park stabbing rampage
A 24-year-old man has been praised as the “backpack hero” for confronting a suspect who had stabbed a British girl and five others in a French park, using his bag as a shield. Henri, who was on a nine-month Catholic pilgrimage around France’s cathedrals, acted on instinct to protect the children present during the attack.
Four children, aged between 22 months and three years old, suffered life-threatening injuries after the suspect, a Syrian refugee identified by French media as Abdalmasih H, went on a rampage in a lakeside park in Annecy. Two adult men were also injured during the incident. Henri used his bag to swipe at the attacker and threw one of the backpacks to fend off the assailant’s blade.
“I didn’t even think, I must admit the brain really unplugged,” Henri told broadcaster BFMTV. “For me, it was just impossible to let those who can’t defend themselves get attacked by someone who seemed like a crazy person.”
President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that the victims would “continue to improve.” The two most critically injured children have been stabilised, and the three-year-old British national is “awake and watching television” after being treated at a hospital in Grenoble.
Macron thanked those who intervened, saying, “You experienced very hard moments, traumatising. I am very proud of you.” The motives for the attack remain unknown, but local prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis stated there was “no apparent terrorist motive.”
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin revealed that the 31-year-old suspect had recently had an asylum request rejected because he held refugee status in Sweden for the past 10 years. French authorities rejected the request on April 26, but the suspect only learned of the decision on June 4, according to French broadcaster BFMTV.
Henri’s father, Francois, said his son “told me that the Syrian was incoherent, saying lots of strange things in different languages, invoking his father, his mother, all the Gods.” He added, “In short, he was possessed by who knows what, but possessed by folly, that’s certain.”
