Eiffel Tower assailant returned to psychiatric hospital
Posted Aug 8, 2017 08:39:44 AM.
Last Updated Aug 8, 2017 09:00:30 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PARIS – A French teen who tried to attack soldiers guarding the Eiffel Tower is being sent back to a psychiatric hospital.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that a psychiatric expert deemed the 19-year-old unfit to face prosecution, so he was released from custody. He was returned to the same hospital that discharged him last week, just before Saturday’s tower incident.
The prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism magistrates opened a judicial inquiry Tuesday into the attempted attack, which will allow a second opinion on the man’s awareness of his actions and fitness to face prosecution.
No one was hurt in the incident. The suspect told police he had been in contact with an Islamic State member who encouraged him to attack security forces.
