It was supposed to be a romantic evening in the City of Lights, but it turned into a nightmare for a German couple who were visiting Paris for the first time. They were walking along the Quai de Grenelle, enjoying the view of the Eiffel Tower, when a man armed with a knife and a hammer suddenly jumped out of the shadows and attacked them.
The husband a nurse who had dedicated his life to saving others, tried to shield his wife from the assailant, but he was stabbed multiple times in the chest and neck. He collapsed on the pavement, bleeding profusely. His wife screamed for help, but the attacker did not stop. He swung his hammer at her head but missed. He then tried to stab her, but she managed to dodge his blade.
The suspect was Tasered by police and arrested on suspicion of assassination – defined in French law as premeditated murder – and “attempted assassination in relation to a terrorist enterprise”.
Video published online appeared to show the moment the suspect was apprehended by armed police not far from where the attack happened. The attacker has been named in French media as Armand R, a 26-year-old French national with Iranian parents.
The two people injured – a Frenchman aged around 60 and a British tourist – were treated by emergency services, with neither found to be in a life-threatening condition.
