Gunman known for petty crimes, not considered militant: French minister

The man who killed at least three people in attacks in southern France was a 26-year old known for petty crimes and possession of drugs, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb on Friday, adding that he acted alone.

Collomb named the attacker as Redouane Lakdim and said he was from nearby Carcassonne, a tourist hot-spot known for its medieval city centre, where the attacks started, reports Reuters.

“He was known for petty crimes. We had monitored him and thought there was no radicalisation,” Collomb said, before adding: “He was known for possession of drugs, we couldn’t have said that he was a radical that would carry out an attack.”

Le Parisien newspaper wrote that Lakdim was of Moroccan descent and was known to French DGSI intelligence services. He was active in Salafist social networks, Le Parisien wrote, without naming its sources.

He was also suspected, without any certainty, of having travelled to Syria, Le Parisien said, adding that the family flat, where he would have been living with his parents and three or four sisters, was raided by police on Friday afternoon.

“This is a small, quiet, town. Unfortunately the threat is everywhere,” Collomb told reporters in Trebes.