Former Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec has given a harrowing account of the Annecy playground attack today after he was caught up in the riot that saw four children stabbed.
Witnessing the earlier riot, Le Tallec, 38, recounted how he had to yell at police to shoot the cutler as he watched an elderly man being stabbed before the officers opened fire.
The former official footballer filmed the gruesome scenes when a Syrian refugee rioted stabbing children in the French Alps. He later gave the account of him through Instagram.
Le Tallec, who also played for local team FC Annecy, said he realized something was wrong as he was jogging around the crystal-clear waters of Lake Annecy in the foothills of the Alps and a wave of panicked bystanders ran past on the opposite direction.
As the group tried to flee the frenzied attack, Le Tallec said a mother yelled at her to turn and run.
Former Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec, 38, recounted on Instagram how he had to yell at police to shoot the man with a knife as he watched an elderly man being stabbed.
Identified as Abdalmash H (pictured), the attacker was heard shouting ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ as he clung to a necklace that reportedly had a crucifix on it.
Police arrest the attacker after he stabbed four children and wounded two adults in a knife attack in a park in Annecy, France.
There is someone stabbing everyone along the lake shore. She has stabbed children,” Le Tallec said, quoting the woman screaming, as she gave a video account of what she saw.
Le Tallec said he was “so surprised” that he kept jogging through the Annecy city park.
“Then all of a sudden the guy appeared in front of me,” Le Tallec recalled. ‘Then I saw the police who were ten meters behind him but they still hadn’t managed to catch him. He was so close to me that I moved out of the way.
I see that he walks directly towards a group of older men and women. He attacks a grandfather, stabs him once, the police can’t catch him, so I tell the police, ‘shoot him,'” Le Tallec continued.
“Then they start shooting, they shoot the person, right in front of me, and he falls to the ground.”
The former Red added: ‘After continuing on my way, I saw in front of the lake, children on the ground, very sad. But the police, the slowness, that’s what I noticed, the slowness was unbelievable, the slowness to shoot something (shoot). The guy had time to stab the father twice.
He spoke English. At first we all thought it was staged, but with the shouts of the people we realized that it was reality.’
A national police spokesman said the suspected assailant in Thursday’s attack was a 31-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who was carrying Swedish identity papers and a Swedish driver’s license.
Anthony Le Tallec played for Liverpool between 2001 and 2008. He then played for local club FC Annecy. He is pictured wearing a Liverpool kit playing in Mark Tyler’s testimony against Peterborough United in 2007.
Footage taken minutes after the stabbing shows the attacker being chased by locals through the park. Parents can be heard in the background crying out for help for their injured children.
Horrifying footage shows a 31-year-old Syrian refugee repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his stroller in front of his screaming mother in an attack in a French park that saw four children stabbed.
The video shows the attacker running into the small playground and repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his stroller as his mother tries to shield him from the attack.
Identified as Abdalmash H, the attacker was allegedly heard shouting “in the name of Jesus Christ” while holding a necklace that reportedly had a crucifix on it before unleashing his stabbing rampage.
Chilling video of the attack shows the assailant jumping over a low wall fence into a children’s playground and repeatedly lunging at a pram, pushing aside a woman who was trying to defend herself.
The children who were injured in the attack ranged from 22 months to three years old.
Le Paquier park, where the attack took place, is popular with locals and tourists who flock to Annecy in summer to boat on the lake’s turquoise waters and hike the nearby forested mountains.
At least one of the injured children was in a stroller, eyewitnesses said. A person who saw the attack, who gave his name as Ferdinand, told BFM TV: “(He) went towards the prams, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife.”
Police officers work inside a cordoned off area following a knife attack in Annecy today.
Footage shows police officers pinning the suspect to the ground after a shot was heard.
Dominique Griziaux said she was at nearby ‘Pop Beach’ when the wail of sirens filled the air. The attack had left him feeling sick inside.
“You put yourself in the shoes of parents and grandparents who are going through this drama,” said Griziaux, an Annecy resident, adding that an attack on such young children was “simply unthinkable.”
“You would never think that this could be possible in an environment as peaceful and bucolic as Annecy.”
I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.