Steph Deschamps / December 13, 2022
Machete attack in the Lidl of Jeumont, France. Four people were injured Monday evening with knives, two of them seriously, in a Lidl store in Jeumont (Nord), near Maubeuge, by a man with unknown motivations, who then tried to end his life.
The prognosis of the two seriously injured is not engaged, unlike that of the author, also seriously injured, said a police source.
According to a second police source, this man in his forties tried to end his life by voluntarily injuring himself in the throat with his knife. Two other people present in the store were injured more slightly.
According to the firemen, who intervened shortly after 19H00, the two seriously injured victims were transported to the hospital of Valenciennes. The perpetrator was transported by helicopter to the University Hospital of Lille.
The facts took place in the early evening, when this man entered the store Lidl equipped with "a chopper" and attacked customers, said the first police source. A dozen people were then present on the spot.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the attacker did not express himself before taking action, added the same source.
A source close to the case said that the man was armed with two knives and a cleaver. According to her, the facts do not "resemble" a terrorist act.
No element currently allows us to make any hypothesis on the motivation of the attacker", who has "not been identified", said the first police source.
The second police source said that the man had no papers on him. "When the police arrived there was blood everywhere," Arnaud Beauquel, first deputy mayor of Jeumont, told AFP. "What happened is very serious, it's frightening."
A psychological cell has been set up for those involved, customers and employees, in a room in the town, he said.
Among the people taken care of are "families with children, who witnessed the acts of violence," Beauquel continued.
Even if these people were not physically injured, it remains traumatic," he said. "The team is very shocked and they are being taken care of" in the framework of this cell, the communication of the Lidl group told AFP. "The supermarket is closed until further notice," she added.
The police were still present at the scene shortly after 23:00. The prefect of the Hauts-de-France region, Georges-François Leclerc, went to the site at about 20:00. Contacted by AFP, the prosecutor of Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Laurent Dumaine, did not wish to communicate immediately.