Paris metro stabbings suspect moved to psychiatric hospital

The sign at a metro station lights up in the early evening in Paris, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

The suspect in the stabbing of three women in the Paris metro has been released from custody and moved to a psychiatric hospital, prosecutors said Saturday.

The man was arrested suspected of stabbing three women in the Paris metro on Friday as the capital’s end-of-year festivities were in full swing.

The three victims were attacked at three different locations along the Line 3 metro track that runs across central Paris. They were injured, but not critically.

Continued police custody was not appropriate for the suspect because it is “considered incompatible with the state of his health”, the prosecutors’ office told AFP.

Police had used surveillance-camera footage and mobile-tracking tools to locate the 25-year-old suspect in the Val d’Oise region north of Paris.

Transport police had opened an investigation into attempted homicide and assault with a weapon.

The interior ministry said the man was a Malian citizen imprisoned in January 2024 for aggravated theft and sexual assault. He had been required to leave France after being released in July.

The man had been placed in an administrative detention centre but failure to obtain a consular travel document required for his deportation had meant he was released after 90 days, as required by law, the statement said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez last week called for “maximum vigilance” during the festive season in a message to senior officials due to what he said was a “very high level of the terrorist threat” and “the risk of public disorder”.

Nunez specifically asked for particular attention to be paid to security on public transport.