A priest and a nun were attacked with a knife in the church of Saint-Pierre-d’Are’ne in Nice. Around 10, just before the service, an individual entered the church and immediately approached the priest Krzyzstof Rudzinski, 57 and of Polish origin, stabbing him several times (about twenty according to a journalist from Le Point). After that he attacked the 72-year-old nun, who was slightly injured. Neither is in danger of life, as also confirmed by the Minister of the Interior Gerard Darmanin. The area was cordoned off and isolated.
According to reports from the newspaper ‘Le Point’, the attacker shouted: “Macron must be killed”. The minister wanted to congratulate the “police forces who promptly arrested the perpetrator” of the attack.
The attacker is of French nationality, born in 1991 in the city of Fre’jus, near the ‘capital’ of the Cote d’Azur. Local authorities have called him a “deranged”, excluding the hypothesis of a terrorist attack. The prefect, Bernard Gonza’lez, added that the young man is unprecedented but that he has been hospitalized several times for mental problems. Estrosi added that the act appears to have been premeditated, because the man had bought the knife several days earlier.
The priest is serious but not life threatening, Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said, speaking to the media outside the church of Saint Pierre d’Are’ne. The mayor, who was able to speak with him, said he found him “despite everything quite strong and lucid”.