Three people were wounded in a knife attack at a busy shopping area in Reims on Thursday afternoon after a man began stabbing customers inside an auto parts store
Authorities say it appears to have been a random attack carried out by a suspect with a history of psychiatric treatment.
The incident occurred around 2 p.m. at the Leclerc Auto auto parts store in the Champfleury shopping area. As reported by L’Union news outlet, the attacker first confronted a couple inside the store before turning his knife on an employee who stepped in to stop the attack.
The woman and the employee sustained minor injuries, while the woman’s husband suffered a serious abdominal wound. All victims required immediate medical treatment, though the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
The attacker fled the scene but was arrested several hours later at his residence in Reims.
Authorities identified the suspect as a 42-year-old man already known to law enforcement for previous acts of violence. Officials also confirmed he is under guardianship and undergoing treatment for mental illness.
Authorities have not yet established whether the victims were known to the suspect or were chosen at random, and no further description of the attacker has been released.
The attack comes just one week after another knife incident in central Reims involving a 15-year-old boy who was reportedly assaulted by eight youths from a rival neighborhood. The teenager was allegedly lured away before being beaten and stabbed during the confrontation.
🇫🇷🔴6 off-duty French police officers were violently lynched in the French city of Reims, by about 10 individuals.
2 arrested suspects are from Mayotte (off the coast of Africa).
The suspects knew the officers, and one had just been released from prison 4 days ago.
One officer… pic.twitter.com/oLe5lJ8i7M
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) September 16, 2025Insecurity in the French city has been rising in recent months. In September last year, six off-duty police officers were violently attacked by around 10 individuals while they were meeting colleagues for dinner.
The incident, caught on film, was described by Prosecutor François Schneider as a “lynching.”
Two suspects, aged 26 and 27 and originally from Mayotte, an island off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, were arrested.
