Lawyer: Train gunman denies terror allegations
August 23, 2015
A lawyer who said she spoke to the gunman, named by media quoting anonymous sources as a 25 or 26-year-old Moroccan, on Sunday said the man was shocked at allegations of terrorism.
The man was overpowered by passengers after he drew weapons on the Thalys train on Friday.
Speaking to French television after meeting with the suspect, lawyer Sophie David said: "I [saw] somebody who was very sick, somebody very weakened physically, as if he suffered from malnutrition, very very thin and very haggard."
"He is dumbfounded by the terrorist motives attributed to his action," David added.
She said the man told her he had "by chance" found a suitcase with a Kalashnikov and a telephone hidden away in a park near the Gare du Midi railway station in Brussels, where he often spent the night.
"A few days later he decided to get on a train that some other homeless people told him would be full of wealthy people travelling from Amsterdam to Paris and he hoped to feed himself by armed robbery," the lawyer explained.
Apart from the assault rifle, the man was carrying a Luger automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box cutter.
Investigation continues
A possible motive for the attack had not been officially disclosed by French officials and the investigation to piece together the man's history and movements remained underway. Under French law, suspects in probes related to alleged terrorism can be held for questioning for up to 96 hours.
France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the man in custody, who he did not name, had been "identified by the Spanish authorities to French intelligence services in February 2014 because of his connections to the radical Islamist movement."
The suspect attacked a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday. He was overpowered by three Americans, Air Force serviceman Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and their friend Anthony Sadler. They were helped by Chris Norman, a British consultant.
mg/se (AFP, Reuters, AP)