French prosecutors on Wednesday said that a man who wounded five people before being shot dead by police in the southern port of Marseille was “not radicalized” but suffering from “psychiatric disorders.”
Abdelkader Dibi, a 35-year-old Tunisian, stabbed several people on Tuesday at a hotel that had evicted him for non-payment, then attacked several others on a busy shopping street.
The national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office would not handle the case even though the man shouted “Allah akbar” (God is great) several times before being shot by police, Marseille public prosecutor Nicolas Bessone told reporters.
Bessone said Dibi was screened for possible radicalization after an earlier incident in June when he allegedly made antisemitic comments. “The individual did not appear to be radicalized but was suffering from psychiatric disorders,” the prosecutor said.
Dibi was known for “his violence and his addiction to both cocaine and alcohol,” the prosecutor added, saying he had a conviction for violence with a weapon against a nephew in 2023.
The Tunisian government described the killing of Dibi as an “unjustified murder.” The country’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the French embassy’s charge d’affaire to present a “strong protest.”
Three victims stabbed during Tuesday’s attack are out of danger, including a person who shared a room with Dibi and was stabbed in the heart.
A police patrol intervened and ordered Dibi to drop his weapons, but opened fire when he refused, the prosecutor said.
