The facts took place on Wednesday morning around 8:45 am on the Île d’Oléron, an island in the west of France, on the Atlantic coast. According to The Parisian the driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” before crashing his vehicle into several people, pedestrians and cyclists. Ten people were hit by a car: five of them were injured, four of them seriously.
The driver tried to set his vehicle on fire after his crazy ride, but was arrested a few minutes later. The police found gas bottles in the car, but they had only partially caught fire at the time. The French judiciary has opened an investigation into attempted murder. The service specialized in terrorism is not yet involved, according to French media.
According to The Parisian it concerns a thirty-year-old Frenchman from La Cotinière, a village on the west coast of the Île d’Oléron. “He is known for numerous offences, in particular due to his regular drug and alcohol use,” said Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron Mayor Christophe Sueur.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez already announced that he would go to the scene.