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| Rambouillet knife attack | |
|---|---|
 Rambouillet police station, scene of the attack | |
 Interactive map of Rambouillet knife attack | |
| Location | Rambouillet, France |
| Date | 23 April 2021 (2021-04-23) |
| Target | Police employee |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Weapons | Knife |
| Deaths | 2 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 0 |
| Perpetrator | Jamel Gorchene |
| Motive | Islamic extremism[1] |
On 23 April 2021, 36-year-old Jamel Gorchene stabbed a police employee to death at apolice station inRambouillet, France.
At around 2:20pm on 23 April 2021 a fatal stabbing occurred in Rambouillet,Yvelines, Île-de-France. An unarmed administrative assistant named Stéphanie Monfermé was stabbed in the throat twice and died soon after. The perpetrator was then shot dead by police.[2]
The attacker was named as Jamel Gorchene, a 36-year-oldTunisian man whoarrived in France illegally in 2009 who was not known to security services. He lived illegally in France for ten years until he obtained residency papers in 2020 which were valid until December 2021. He had recently moved to Rambouillet.[3]
He was not previously known to Tunisian or French police services. HisFacebook posts were almost exclusively concerned with the defence of theMuslim community andIslamophobia, as well as the posts ofÉric Zemmour.[3]
In October 2020, a few days after themurder of Samuel Paty, a teacher who showeddepictions of Muhammed in class, Jamel Gorchene joined a campaign namedRespectez Muhammed prophète de Dieu (Respect Muhammed, prophet of God) and changed his Facebook profile picture.[3] According to journalistNicolas Beau, since 2009 Jamel Gorchene had been the subject of slow but progressive radicalization which had escaped the notice of government surveillance agencies.[4] He had been influenced by the radical teachings of SheikhAli al-Qaradaghi, whom he followed assiduously and retweeted.[5]
Gorchene watched videos which glorified and encouraged martyrdom and jihad before his attack.[6]
The dead woman, Stéphanie Monfermé, was a 49-year-old mother of two. She was born on 1 February 1972 inCoutances,Normandy, and raised inMontmartin-sur-Mer,Manche before moving toSaint-Léger-en-Yvelines. She had worked for the police for 28 years in administration. As she was not a police officer, she did not wear auniform or carry a sidearm.[7]
A ceremony held in Rambouillet 26 April to commemorate Monfermé was attended by government ministers, her husband and two daughters, and hundreds of French mourners.[8]
Prime MinisterJean Castex andInterior MinisterGérald Darmanin visited the scene of the attack[9] and presidentEmmanuel Macron visited the family of the victim.[10]
An investigation into the attack was launched by the FrenchParquet national antiterroriste [fr] (PNAT).[9] Macron reaffirmed his opposition toIslamic terrorism.National Rally leaderMarine Le Pen criticised the decision to grant French residency to anillegal immigrant and advocated for their deportation.[11]
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