A 35-year-old man on Wednesday drove his car into pedestrians and cyclists on the French Atlantic island of Oleron, injuring ten people, four of them seriously, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutor Arnaud Laraize said the suspect, a resident of Oleron, “deliberately hit several pedestrians and cyclists” along a main road linking the towns of Dolus d’Oleron and Saint-Pierre d’Oleron.
Police subdued the man using a taser as he tried to set fire to his car, a source close to the investigation said. During his arrest, he reportedly shouted “God is the greatest” in Arabic, Laraize noted.
While the phrase is commonly used in Islamic prayer, it has also been associated with past militant attacks in France. The prosecutor said the suspect’s motive was not yet clear but confirmed he was being investigated for attempted murder.
Authorities said the man was already known to police for petty crimes. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that he may have a psychiatric condition.
A second source confirmed the driver appeared to have intentionally targeted people at multiple points along the route.
The mayor of Dolus d’Oleron identified the suspect as a local resident.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he was traveling to the island and would address the media later in the day.
France has suffered multiple extremist attacks in recent years. In 2016, a Tunisian man killed 86 people when he drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
Next week, France will mark ten years since the coordinated assaults on the Bataclan concert hall and several sites in Paris that left 130 people dead, also claimed by IS.
