PARIS – The chief prosecutor in Paris says the hammer-wielding man who attacked police officers patrolling in front of Notre Dame Cathedral is being charged with attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise.
François Molins says the 40-year-old Algerian appeared to have radicalized himself through the internet and Islamic State group propaganda. The man was unknown to police and intelligence services. The man was shot by police after Tuesday’s attack.
Molins told a news conference Saturday that the man had the “profile of a neophyte” that counterterrorism services fear as much as extremists who are trained to carry out attacks.
Molins, who hasn’t identified the suspect by his full name, confirmed that he was an ex-journalist who was legally living in France as a student working on his doctoral thesis.
