The heavily-armed man who was tackled by passengers aboard a high-speed train in France claims he was solely attempting to rob some “wealthy people” as a result of he was hungry and by the “decree of providence” discovered a bag of weapons, in line with his lawyer.
The gunman, who opened fireplace aboard a Thalys high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris on Friday, was described as weak and malnourished by French lawyer Sophie David, who questioned him in the course of the police interrogation in Arras after the assault.
“[I saw] somebody who was very sick, somebody very weakened physically, as if he suffered from malnutrition, very, very thin and very haggard,” Sophie David instructed BFMTV.
The gunman – who was closely armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, 9 cartridge magazines to it, an computerized Luger pistol and a cutter – added that he was very “surprised” to seek out out that his case had obtained such a large publicity.
“He is dumbfounded by the terrorist motives attributed to his action,” she added, noting that the suspect regarded “neither dangerous nor vindictive” as she spoke to him.
The attacker was recognized via his fingerprints as Ayoub el Khazzani, who was identified to French and Spanish intelligences over his alleged ties to a “radical Islamist movement,” French media reported.
However, in line with the lawyer, the 26-year-old Moroccan persistently denies any terrorist intent and doesn’t see any terrorist nature in his actions. The attacker claims he was planning solely to ransom passengers as he was hungry.
The attacker claims to have discovered all of the weapons and ammunition in a park close to the Gare du Midi railway station in Brussels, the place he normally slept as a result of he was homeless. He stated it was a “decree of providence.”
“A few days later he decided to get on a train that some other homeless people told him would be full of wealthy people traveling from Amsterdam to Paris and he hoped to feed himself by armed robbery,” David stated, as quoted by Reuters.
According to the lawyer, the person additionally denied firing any photographs earlier than passengers charged to disarm the gunman. However, in line with the French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, the gunman had fired “several shots” earlier than he was disarmed.