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A Russian man of Chechen origin was arrested by French police after a car rammed into a crowd, killing two people and wounding nine others.
Late Wednesday, a vehicle plowed into a group of people who were outside a bar in the Normandy port of Caen after a dispute, said David Claviere, the prefect of the department of Calvados.
Authorities said the incident transpired after a fight when the suspect was provoked by several people.
The man is accused of returning with his car, driving onto a bus lane in front of Caen station and driving into the two men, believed to be Afghan nationals, and other people standing under a bus shelter, AFP reported.
‘Apparently … no terrorist motive’
The prosecutor’s office in Caen said there was “apparently … no terrorist motive, but the investigation is only just beginning.”
The suspect, who legally lived in France, wasn’t known to authorities and had never been convicted of a crime.
Regional prosecutor Joel Garrigue said the two men who died were aged 35 and 28, while the nine wounded were all men aged 17 to 36.
Several of the wounded were in critical condition, Garrigue added, with some suffering from “fractures to the lower limbs.”
Suspect arrested in neighbouring port
Police said the 26-year-old suspect fled the scene. After a major search operation, he was arrested in the neighbouring port of Ouistreham.
The prosecutor’s office told AFP that during interrogation, the suspect “reported having been the victim of violence on the station forecourt prior to the incident.”
“His statements will, of course, be thoroughly verified,” the prosecutor’s office added, noting he wasn’t intoxicated at the time of the incident.