A history teacher was just stabbed and beheaded in a street near Paris, France. It’s being considered a terrorist attack, according to police.
The victim is believed to have received threats after discussing caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad during a lesson about freedom of expression with his high school students earlier this month.
This took place in the town of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, which is about 25km northwest of Paris.
The attacker was shot dead by police about 600 meters from the scene of the stabbing. Police reported he was armed with a knife and an airsoft gun.
Police asked the public to avoid the area, 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the center of Paris.
French President Macron visited the area after an emergency meeting at the interior ministry took place.
A parent of one of the students filed a complaint after the teacher opened a discussion about the cartoons in class, the police reported. However, the suspect didn’t have a child at the school.
A police source told Reuters that witnesses heard the attacker shout Allah Akbar, or God is Great.
Local media reported that the attacker claimed responsibility for it on Twitter saying “To Macron, the leader of the infidels, I executed one of your hellhounds who dared to belittle Mohammad.” The tweet was later taken down by Twitter.
In 2015, several staff members at Charlie Hebdo were killed after publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The paper recently republished the caricatures.
