Former Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec today gave a harrowing account of the Annecy playground attack after being caught up in the frenzy that saw four children stabbed.
Le Tallec, 38, previously witnessed the rampage, telling how he had to yell at police to shoot the knife man as he watched an elderly man get stabbed before officers opened fire.
The former journeyman footballer filmed the gruesome scenes when a Syrian refugee rioted and stabbed children in the French Alps. He later gave his account via Instagram.
Le Tallec, who also played for local FC Annecy, said he realized something was wrong when he was jogging around the pristine waters of Lake Annecy in the foothills of the Alps when a wave of panicked bystanders raced past in the opposite direction.
As the group tried to flee from the frenzied attack, Le Tallec said a mother yelled at him to turn and run.
Former Liverpool player Anthony Le Tallec, 38, told Instagram how he had to yell at police to shoot the knifeman as he watched an elderly man get stabbed
Identified as Abdalmash H (pictured), the attacker was heard shouting ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ as he clung to a chain that allegedly had a crucifix on it
Police arrest the attacker after he stabbed four children and injured two adults in a knife attack at a park in Annecy, France
“Someone is stabbing everyone along the lake shore. He stabbed children,” Le Tallec quoted the woman as screaming, giving a video account of what he saw.
Le Tallec said he was “so surprised” that he kept jogging through the park in the city of Annecy.
“Then suddenly the man appeared in front of me,” Le Tallec recalled. “Then I saw the police standing ten meters behind him, but they hadn’t caught him yet. He was so close to me that I got out of the way.’
“I see him heading straight for a group of older men and women. He attacks a grandpa, stabs him once, the police can’t catch him, so I tell the police, ‘shoot him,’” Le Tallec continued.
“Then they start firing, they shoot at the person right in front of me, and he falls to the ground.”
The former Red added: “After I continued on my way, I saw children lying on the ground in front of the lake – very sad. But the police, the slowness, that’s what struck me, the slowness was incredible, the slowness to trigger (shoot) something. The man had time to stab the father twice.
‘He spoke English. At first we all thought it was staged, but with people screaming we realized it was reality.’
A national police spokesman said the alleged assailant of Thursday’s attack was a 31-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who had Swedish identity documents and a Swedish driver’s license with him.
Anthony Le Tallec played for Liverpool between 2001 and 2008. He later played for local club FC Annecy. He is pictured in a Liverpool kit playing in Mark Tyler’s testimonial against Peterborough United in 2007
Footage taken minutes after the stabbing shows the attacker being chased through the park by locals. In the background, parents can be heard screaming for help for their injured children
Horrifying footage shows a Syrian refugee, 31, repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his stroller in front of his screaming mother in an attack on a French playground where four children were stabbed
Video shows the attacker running into the small playground and repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his stroller as his screaming mother tries to shield him from the attack
The assailant, identified as Abdalmash H, was reportedly heard screaming ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ while holding on to a necklace allegedly carrying a crucifix before unleashing his stabbing spree.
A chilling video of the attack shows the assailant leaping over a low wall into a children’s playground and lunging repeatedly at a stroller, pushing aside a woman trying to fend him off.
The children injured in the attack were between 22 months and three years old.
Le Paquier park, where the attack took place, is popular with locals and tourists who flock to Annecy in summer to boat on the lake’s turquoise waters and hike in the nearby forested mountains.
At least one of the injured children was in a pram, according to eyewitnesses. A person who saw the attack, who gave his name as Ferdinand, told BFM TV: “(He) went to the prams and hit the little ones repeatedly with a knife.”
Police officers work in a cordoned off area following a knife attack in Annecy earlier today
Footage shows how police officers push the suspect to the ground after a shot was heard
Dominique Griziaux said he was at nearby “Pop Beach” when the howl of sirens filled the air. The attack had made him sick inside.
“You put yourself in the shoes of the parents and grandparents who are going through this drama,” said Griziaux, a resident of Annecy, adding that an attack on such young children was “just unthinkable.”
“You would never think this would be possible in such a peaceful, rural setting as Annecy.”