Submit your comments on this article | |||||||
Europe | |||||||
Day 3: Strasbourg Terror Suspect Yelled ‘Allahu Akbar’ During Attack, Has 27 Prior Criminal Convictions | |||||||
2018-12-13 | |||||||
The new information was revealed Wednesday at a press conference by France’s anti-terror prosecutor Rémy Heitz who said that witnesses had observed the suspect yelling “Allahu Akbar” as he fired upon the crowd at the Strasbourg Christmas market on Tuesday evening, France24 reports. According to French broadcaster BFMTV, the 29-year-old suspect, who was born in Strasbourg, has had a total of 27 prior criminal convictions including convictions for violent robbery, the earliest occurring when the suspect was only 10 years old. Investigators have also said that the crimes did not occur in just France, noting he had also committed crimes in both Germany and Switzerland as well. Hours before the attack, the suspect’s house had been raided by police who found a hand grenade, a shotgun, and other weapons. Investigators now say that the 29-year-old had been a suspect in a prior attempted murder and that is what sparked the initial raid. On Wednesday police arrested four men believed to be connected to Cherif C. and revealed that the terror suspect had used a taxi to flee the scene and had even bragged to the taxi driver that he had killed at least ten people.
Police had tried to detain Cherif on Tuesday morning in connection with an attempted murder inquiry, but he was not at home. They found a grenade, a rifle and four knives during a search on Tuesday morning of the suspect’s house. Four members of his entourage were being detained for questioning. These reportedly include his parents and two brothers, one of him, according to Le Parisien, is believed to be a follower of Salafism, an ultra-conservative form of Islam. He was shot in the arm during an exchange of fire with French soldiers in the city centre and then forced a taxi driver to take him to another part of the city. Later, he crossed four policemen. They riposted when he opened fire but he managed to flee once again. At the drab housing estate where he lived in Hohberg on the outskirts of Strasbourg, neighbours were adamant Chekatt was no Islamist but a cornered criminal who had “lost his marbles”. “For us, he wasn’t radicalised, he was a thug,” a resident called Zak, 22, told the Telegraph. “He lost the plot because he had botched an armed robbery beforehand. He knew the police were after him. He had a criminal history and knew he was looking at 10 years or so he lost it.”
Before the shooting took place, police had gone to his home earlier to arrest him over this suspected crime, but found him missing. The four people previously reported as being held for questioning was revealed on Wednesday afternoon to be Chekatt's mother, father and two brothers.
Chekatt was born in Strasbourg in February 1989, into a family with Moroccan roots, and appears to have fallen first into petty crime then gangster circles. Like many youths growing up on outer-city housing projects in France, home to many of the country’s north African immigrant population, where poverty and unemployment are rife, Chekatt left school early and had a series of low-paid jobs. Five of his alleged accomplices
French officials have suggested the prospect of another prison sentence could have sparked the Christmas market attack a few hours later.
| |||||||
Posted by:Besoeker |
#5 A grace, and the Sign of the Cross. He took us, perhaps, for Alsace, And two hours later He tasted like gator, That pious young man of LaPlace! |
Posted by: Oscar de Medici6651 2018-12-13 19:02 |
#4 I thought they had strict gun control in France. |
Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-12-13 17:41 |
#3 Happy ending to an otherwise sad story. |
Posted by: Besoeker 2018-12-13 16:29 |
#2 French media report that he has been killed in a shootout. |
Posted by: European Conservative 2018-12-13 15:47 |
#1 everyone reporting on this should point out that France has much stricter gun control laws than any US State and every weapon this gangster-jihadist had, excepting maybe the knives was illegally possessed |
Posted by: lord garth 2018-12-13 12:28 |