Paris terrorist who stabbed to death mother-of-two French policewoman watched videos glorifying jihad before launching attack
- Jamel Gorchene watched the videos on his phone just before the knife attack
- He stabbed Stephanie M, a mother-of-two, 49, to death in a police station
- The knifeman was shot dead by her colleagues and a terror probe was launched
The Tunisian national who killed a police worker near Paris on Friday had watched religious videos glorifying acts of jihad just before carrying out his attack, said France‘s anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard.
The assailant, identified as Jamel Gorchene, looked at the videos on his phone just before his knife attack on the police worker, a mother-of-two identified only as Stephanie M.
‘The attacker, just before carrying out his act, had looked at religious chants and videos glorifying jihad and martyrdom,’ said Ricard, who added that the assailant had also shouted out ‘Allahu Akbar’, or ‘God is Greatest’, during the attack.
The Tunisian national (pictured) who killed a police worker near Paris on Friday had watched religious videos glorifying acts of jihad just before carrying out his attack
The assailant, identified as Jamel Gorchene, looked at the videos on his phone just before his knife attack (his home in Rambouillet pictured)
The attacker was not previously known to police or anti-terrorist authorities and had recently moved to Rambouillet having previously lived in the Val-de-Marne
Stephanie died from stab wounds, while Jamel was subsequently shot dead by police after the attack at a police station in Rambouillet, a commuter suburb south of Paris.
Prosecutors have opened a terror probe after the killing which was carried out by the 36-year-old who arrived in France illegally in 2009 before he was given leave to remain in 2019.
Stephanie, an admin worker, who had worked for the police since 1993, had just ‘popped out of the station to change the parking disc on her car’ when she was pounced on by the attacker in the lobby.
The attacker was not previously known to police or anti-terrorist authorities and had recently moved to Rambouillet having previously lived in the Val-de-Marne.
The murdered woman was the mother of two children aged 13 and 18.
The assailant, pictured in Paris,shouted out ‘Allahu Akbar’, or ‘God is Greatest’, during the attack
The 36-year-old (family home in Tunisia pictured) who arrived in France illegally in 2009 before he was given leave to remain in 2019
Rambouillet is a quiet commune southwest of Paris and is known for its famous historic chateau
Rambouillet is a quiet and leafy commune southwest of Paris and is known for its historic chateau.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last Friday, in reaction to the killing in Rambouillet, that France had again been the victim of a terrorist attack.
He said: ‘She was a police officer. Stephanie was killed in her Rambouillet police station, on the already damaged land of Yvelines.
‘The nation is with her family, her colleagues and the police. In the fight against Islamist terrorism, we will not give up.’
A female police worker in France was killed by the knifeman who was then shot dead by her colleagues. Pictured: officers stand near the police station after the attack
Stephanie died from stab wounds, while Jamel was subsequently shot dead by police after the attack
Ricard said France was working with Tunisian authorities in its probe into the Rambouillet attack. The Tunisian Embassy in Paris condemned the attack, in a statement issued this weekend.
France has experienced several attacks by Islamist militants in recent years.
Bombings and shootings in November 2015 at the Bataclan theatre and other sites around Paris killed 130 people, and in July 2016 an Islamist militant drove a truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86.
Last October, a French schoolteacher was beheaded in Conflans, another commuter suburb near Paris, by a Chechen teenager who was then shot dead by police.
