Yvelines: Suspect Remanded in Custody Pending Trial for Racist Attack, One Dead and Five Wounded
Kévin T., 39, was remanded in custody after acknowledging he targeted Muslim and African individuals. Homemade stickers praising the National Rally were discovered at his home.
Racist Attack in Yvelines: Suspect Committed for Trial and Remanded in Custody
According to TF1 Info, the suspect in the terrorist attack carried out Friday morning in Yvelines was brought before a judge in Paris on Thursday 29 October. Kévin T., 39, was committed for trial for "murder" and "attempted murders" linked to a "terrorist enterprise", then remanded in custody in accordance with the recommendations of the national counter-terrorism prosecutor's office (Pnat).
The man admitted to targeting individuals "of Muslim or African or North African type", according to counter-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen. The attack on Friday killed a 26-year-old French national, Pengo Bossio Wangi, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and wounded seven other people, several of African or Maghrebi origin, in Trappes and La Verrière.
Christen specified that Kévin T. had chosen Trappes because he considered it a "haven for Islamists". The man nevertheless "disputed any terrorist intention", claiming his action was "legitimate". His lawyers, Baptiste Bellet and Eliott Amzallag, declared to the press that "the judicial investigation will be lengthy because the gravity of the facts requires it".
Meticulous Preparation and Discoveries at His Home
The search of Kévin T.'s home in Plaisir, which was booby-trapped, revealed "very extensive" preparation of the criminal act. Investigators discovered weapons or weapon components: a magazine, two knuckledusters, a steel bayonet and a silencer. Also found were a copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf", a Quran and a Bible.
According to the prosecutor, three series of homemade stickers were seized: 30 bearing the inscription "Long live France, RN, proud to be French", 99 with "100% French/long live France" and 98 with "Support for law enforcement". Kévin T. stated that he had "personally drawn these stickers" before ordering their manufacture via Amazon over a year ago.
Acquisition of Tactical Equipment and Previous Convictions
In September, Kévin T. had acquired "several weapon components designed to enhance the tactical effectiveness of the Sten submachine gun, a police armband and handcuffs", Christen detailed. These acquisitions testified to planning over several months.
Kévin T., previously convicted on four occasions—most recently in 2012—reported psychological problems and heavy drug use since the age of 13. At the time of the attack, analyses revealed the presence of cannabis and cocaine in his blood, as well as molecules "consistent with the taking of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications". Christen clarified that the diagnosis of schizophrenia alleged by Kévin T. was "more an interpretation by the individual concerned than a medical conclusion".
Incident Three Days Before the Attack
On 20 October, three days before his deadly action, Kévin T. had been filmed "fighting with a Black man" at a petrol station where he worked as a contractor, according to a source close to the case. He had been arrested that day for striking a motorist at the petrol station in Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine), then questioned under caution for voluntary violence.
When questioned about photographs discovered on the France Palestine website dated February 2018 or about his attendance at "Stop Pub" meetings, Kévin T. stated he had infiltrated "the leftists" at one time. The man was unknown to intelligence services before the attack.
Political Debate and Judicial Questions
The attack inflamed political debate. Yassine Bouzrou, lawyer for five of the victims and wounded, declared to the AFP that "the investigation must now make it possible to answer all the questions this case raises: how was such a dangerous individual able to prepare such an act without ever being detected beforehand? How did he obtain this arsenal?"
Romain Ruiz, lawyer for a man "struck by two bullets in the legs", stated: "What the statements of this man teach us is that the National Rally provided him with ideological ammunition and it is this ammunition that came out of his weapon on Friday". Several demonstrations were held to "denounce the normalisation of racist hatred".
Source: TF1 Info