French President Emmanuel Macron visits victims, emergency workers of knife attack

June 9 (UPI) -- French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Friday that all four children stabbed in the Annecy attack are now in stable condition. A Syrian national suspected in Thursday's attack remains in custody but so far authorities say there's no evidence that terrorism was a motive.

President Emmanuel Macron visited some of the children in a hospital in Grenoble and visited emergency workers in Annecy Friday afternoon.

One of the injured children is 3 years old, two of them are 2 and one is 22 months old. One the children was British and one Dutch.

They were injured when a man with a knife attacked a group of children at a playground in Annecy Thursday and then injured two adults in a group of elderly people.

Annecy Prosecutor Line-Bonnet Mathis told reporters there is no obvious terrorist motive and the suspect was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the assaults. He had entered France legally in November 2022.

The man twice shouted "In the name of Jesus Christ" during the stabbing attacks and was wearing a crucifix pendant as one 24-year-old man tried to fight off the assailant using a backpack.

According to BBC News, prosecutors still don't have the motive for the stabbings and the suspect has no recorded history of mental illness. The French Interior Minister said the suspect's asylum claim was denied a few days ago.

The suspect, identified as Abdelmasih H by French authorities, was shot and taken into custody by police. He had reportedly been living homeless and isolated, according to Borne.

A woman who said she was the suspect's wife was interviewed by French TV channel BFMTV. She said she had a daughter with him in Sweden but they separated in 2022 when he moved to France. She described him as a kind man who cared for their daughter.