Attack in Yvelines: the psychiatric profile of the suspect “changes nothing” about the “racist” motive, says Laurent Nuñez

The psychiatric profile of the suspect in the Yvelines attack does not change the fact that his act was a “terrorist, racist attack”, said the Minister of the Interior on Monday October 26, while the family of the man killed questions the decision to suspend his police custody. “What happened in Trappes is very serious. It’s a racist terrorist attack,” denounced Laurent Nuñez on RMC/BFMTV: Kévin T. “was driven by hatred, racism, and he killed for that.”

Friday morning, in his car, this resident of Yvelines shot dead a 26-year-old Frenchman of African origin, Pengo Bossio Wangi, and injured five others on Friday, including at least four with African or North African-sounding names, in Trappes and La Verrière, according to a police source. Among the injured is a twelve-year-old girl, who is “out of the woods,” according to the mayor of La Verrière, Nicolas Dainville.

Police custody suspended

The police custody of Kévin T., aged 39, was suspended after a psychiatric examination carried out on Saturday evening. He was taken to the psychiatric infirmary of the Paris police headquarters where he was placed under observation for a period of up to 48 hours. “This must make it possible to assess whether his state of psychiatric health is compatible” with the continuation of his hearings, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office.

According to a source close to the investigation, the man is undergoing medical treatment for schizophrenia, an illness which alters the perception of reality, emotions and behavior. His blood tests revealed the presence of cannabis and cocaine, according to the Pnat.

“Worrying recurrence”

The family of Pengo Bossio Wangi was surprised, through the voice of his lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou, at the suspension of the suspect's police custody for psychiatric reasons, because in practice these cases are very rare. Me Bouzrou spoke of a “worrying recurrence: when the attack emanates from the extreme right, the psychiatric question arises very quickly – the author would “necessarily be unbalanced””. On the contrary, insisted the minister, this suspension measure “happens quite often, including for acts of Islamist terrorism”, and “it does not change the seriousness of the act, the fact (that it) is a terrorist, racist attack”, insisted the minister.