Lyon knifeman named. He is a Muslim Afghan national with several identities, at least three dates of birth, and ‘delusions’.

From Euro News and local newspaper Le Progres

Three victims who were reported critically injured on Saturday are now stable, the Lyon prosecutor said at a news conference on Sunday.

The suspect was arrested and taken into police custody for “murder and attempted murder,” according to AFP. While in custody, the man said he was a Muslim and gave a “confused” statement, claiming he heard voices insulting God and giving him “the order to kill,” the prosecutor added.

The suspect said he only had memories of the beginning of the attack, adding he thought he recognised his first victim — “an individual with whom he had been in dispute since his time in England a few years ago.”

After consultation with a psychiatrist, he was declared to be in a psychotic state with paranoid delusions. He acknowledged that he had used cannabis.

The man, who does not have a criminal record, is an Afghan national.

He is known under two identities and has three declared dates of birth, which would make him 33, 31 or 27, the official added.

Authorities initially reported a second suspect on the run, but the prosecutor and a second police source later denied the existence of a second perpetrator. With two identities and three dates of birth how sure can they be?

The conservative news magazine Valeurs actuelles gives his name as Sultan Marmed Niazi and a 1986 birthday. 

Né en 1986 en Afghanistan selon ses déclarations, Sultan Marmed NIAZI tiendrait devant les enquêteurs des propos confus. 

The local newspaper reported this statement of an eye witness – le suspect aurait fait part d’une allusion religieuse au moment des faits : « Ils ne lisent pas le Coran ».  “They do not read the Koran”. Who are ‘they’?

I can’t find any information yet about his other names. But I suspect he will be sent to a mental hospital and his murder defended by reason of mental illness. Which is most unfair on those poor souls battling real illness and despair.