Attack in France

Growstuff

tickingbird
Hmm ... I wonder what the parents of the children killed in Dunblane would say.

What does that comment even mean? What would you expect them to say? I don’t recall anyone rushing to excuse the monster responsible on MH grounds.
It means that I don't remember anybody commenting on the ethnic background of the perpetrator

Why would they? He was Scottish and in Scotland.

You’re being disingenuous anyway as the parents of these poor toddlers haven’t spoken of the race or religion of this evil swine; they’re doubtless weeping and praying at their child’s bedside. So there’s absolutely no relevance to your comment.

Everyone saying he may have mh problems.. that is the biggest excuse used these days for anything that happens. Makes it seem like everyone with MH is being tarred as a raving lunatic. And that's how they get away with a soft sentence. Glad the police shot and killed him..its what he deserved. Stabbing innocent children, a 22 month old baby, he was a waste of humanity...and there's not much around these days

Sago

I cannot believe the posters that immediately jump to the defence of the perpetrator.
It was a truly evil act by an evil coward.
Whatever his race or creed, he is evil.

Well said. Completely agree.

weirdly he was training to be a nurse in Sweden. I wonder what happened to make him so desperate and to act like this..

Wyllowe3
Tickingbird have I said anything to indicate I don’t care about the children? Or the families

You haven’t said anything to indicate you do! You were very quick however to accuse posters of breathtaking racism because the attacker may have MH issues. Strange that was your initial reaction.

Trying to understand what went on in the perpetrator's head doesn't help those poor little ones or adults who were stabbed by him. He had no history of MH and it seems to have been an angry outburst with dreadful consequences.

does one cancel out the other..

It's strange how this thread discussing a recent incident is allowed to continue when similar ones are deleted.

This is a terrible tragedy. I can't imagine how the parents are feeling

The break up of his marriage and losing his home with his wife and 3 year old has obviously led to some sort of mental breakdown.

I hope the children all make a full recovery

I also hope he will get appropriate psychiatric help and his wife and child aren't too negatively impacted by this

It's horrible, isn't it?

Annecy is a beautiful place, and as was said upthread is usually tranquil. How anyone could attack babies in that way is beyond me. My heart goes out to the parents.

tickingbird

Wyllowe3
Tickingbird have I said anything to indicate I don’t care about the children? Or the families

You haven’t said anything to indicate you do! You were very quick however to accuse posters of breathtaking racism because the attacker may have MH issues. Strange that was your initial reaction.

I've read many of Wyllow's comments and they have always come across as a kind and conscientious

I think making any assumption a person "does not care" is completely unfair and unfounded here

evil man with intention, who purposely brought a knife

Stop making excuses for that piece of dirt who went out to stab little children, over and over again

Brex
The police didn’t kill him. He was shot in the leg and is in hospital.

sodapop

It's strange how this thread discussing a recent incident is allowed to continue when similar ones are deleted.

It’s because this happened abroad and is outside the jurisdiction of the UK courts. If it happened in the UK we would not be free to comment after an arrest had been made,

Just dreadful! Just so angry and sad to read about this attack . Can't get it out of my mind , I don't care whether he is mentally ill or not , he is evil and always will be.

I honestly think Tickingbird's reaction is normal, as far as questioning why anyone wouldn't think of the children first rather than the assailant's motives. It could of course be a mental health issue, random senseless killings tend to be, or a deep held irrational grievance. Now we know a little more, the man was or is a Christian, a violent act done in the name of Jesus Christ, no sense at all there, totally at odds with all of his teachings, so yes some sort of breakdown. To accuse those questioning why this happened, of racism is bizarre or disingenuous, when one only has to look at the recent history of terrorism in France. There have been a number of random attacks one on a teacher a priest as well as the orchestrated large scale ones, so of course two scenarios spring to mind terrorism or mental health! A pretty obvious observation for heavens sake, not the wholesale demonisation of any non French national.

Mad, like Lucy Letby. Mad people do mad things, sometimes horrific things.

The deleted comments maybe?

Beyond belief, that anyone should attack should innocents. All four are aged 3 or under, with the youngest at only 22 months, and who was apparently strapped into a pushchair when attacked. The attacker must surely be mentally deranged. Praying hard that all 4 children and the elderly man make a full recovery from this atrocity.

They may make full physical recoveries, but the mental recovery may never be complete. There are bound to be physical scars too. Such a horrendous thing to be perpetuated on innocent children.

Do you remember when a British man flung a French six year-old off a balcony outside Tate Britain a few years ago? The man, Jonty Bravery, was apparently mentally ill. The little boy is still recovering, I think, after having broken many of his bones.

Yes, I remember. This attacker sounds like one of those spiteful men who kill children when a woman turns them down or leaves them.

Yes he was under the care of social services as he had autism and personality disorder. He was quite sane in his planning. He wanted to be on the news. At trial the judge wasn’t having any of it and sentenced him to life with a minimum of 15 years.

I find it strange so many of you have decided the French attacker is mentally ill or has had a psychotic episode due to his marriage breaking down. Pure supposition. Some people are evil. I can’t remember anyone defending Jo Cox’s murderer.

ronib

I thought one news channel said that the perpetrator had a 3 year old and that his marriage had broken down. Also his family were living in Sweden.
It highlights how dire the life of a refugee can become for this man to have committed this terrible senseless act on innocent children. I wonder what support services were available to him in France?

It's not unknown for men whose lives have spiralled out of their control to murder even their own children in acts of vengeance against their wives, or those they believe are conspiring against them... or both.

Where ethnicity might come into it is if the perpetrator is from a cultural background that places men as the dominant being both in political and social terms. The loss of power, authority and agency seems to be something they cannot deal with.

But that's not always the case either.

I cannot imagine the trauma those children experienced. And their parents must be stunned with the same trauma - how on earth will they ever get over this? Their lives have changed forever. I hope to God those poor children survive. It hardly bears thinking about.

PS

Trying to understand the motives of the mad man is not to sympathise with him, on my part.

When terrible things happen I think we look for explanations as to why - to make sense of it - the alternative is to accept that we live in a mad and evil world, and that's too terrifying to deal with.