A migrant suspected of bludgeoning at least one person to death in a series of violent attacks across Europe has finally been arrested in southern France after launching an unprovoked attack on a woman on a train.
The suspect, identified as Levis E., is said to have beaten several victims with concrete slabs in France and the Netherlands while evading arrest by traveling across the continent by train.
The 32-year-old Cameroonian national, who is reportedly subject to a deportation order Le Parisienwas arrested by police at Toulon train station after allegedly attacking a 26-year-old woman on board a train bound for Marseille on Tuesday.
Train drivers stopped the train in Toulon after the alleged victim told them that a man wearing a black hoodie punched her several times and kicked her in the shin as she tried to find her seat.
The alleged attacker, who according to train staff traveled without a ticket or identification, was peacefully detained by gendarmes in Toulon at around 8pm on Tuesday.
But shortly after taking the man into custody, investigators realized their charge was the prime suspect in at least one murder and attempted murders across Europe.
The suspect, identified as Levis E., is suspected of murder and attempted murder in France and the Netherlands in sickening attacks where he used concrete blocks as a weapon, police sources said.
A man, believed to be Levis E., is seen balancing a concrete block on his head before launching an attack
This still image, taken from CCTV, shows the moment a man carried out a sickening attack on a rough sleeper
Levis E. is said to have waged a campaign of violence in the Netherlands and France, brutally attacking unsuspecting victims before immediately boarding a train and fleeing the country to evade authorities.
Authorities suspect he committed murder in Toulon less than 24 hours before his arrest yesterday, French police said. SudOuest exhaust.
Chilling surveillance footage that has emerged in the French city of Lyon shows how a person matching the description of Levis E. smashes a concrete block into the head of a sleeping homeless man during the night of November 11 to 12.
The footage shows the attacker waving the closed plate up before running towards the man sleeping in the corner and slamming the gun on top of him.
The tragic victim, a man from Moldova who was sleeping on the streets of Lyon, was found dead after suffering serious head injuries.
That video bears a shocking similarity to a similar attack in Rotterdam just over a week ago, where a homeless man was left in a coma after a similar attack on November 4 and 5.
Dutch police have launched an active search for the Rotterdam attacker, who was captured on CCTV fleeing the scene after dropping another concrete slab on the head of his victim, who was lying on the ground.
The man boarded a train hours after the attack bound for the city of Breda, before traveling on to the cities of Antwerp and Brussels in Belgium.
The Rotterdam police issued an urgent call for tips for their investigation and released a camera image of the attacker.
He is seen wearing a black hooded jacket, dark trousers and a pair of trainers with distinctive orange laces – an appearance that matched the description of the woman who claimed to have been attacked on the train to Marseille.
At the time of Levis E.’s arrest in Toulon last night, the victim attacked in Rotterdam, a 37-year-old rough sleeper named Benjamin, was in a coma, according to the Dutch newspaper The Telegraph.
In addition to the attacks in Lyon and Rotterdam, Levis E. is also wanted for at least three other violent attacks in the French cities of Evry, Strasbourg and Dijon in recent weeks.
Each attack has similar characteristics, with homeless people being pummeled in public areas by a suspect who then boards a train.
The attacker is seen walking away after slamming the block into the homeless man
The suspect was arrested yesterday in Toulon. (Photo: a policewoman at Toulon central police station)
Each attack has similar characteristics, with homeless people being pummeled in public spaces by a suspect who then boards a train
The arrest of Levis E. has triggered an urgent multinational investigation.
Authorities in Belgium and the Netherlands are now working closely with French officials to determine whether the Cameroonian national could be involved in other unsolved crimes.
Officers who arrested Levis E. in Toulon discovered that he had already been issued a mandatory deportation order, as well as arrest warrants for attempted murder and petty crimes, including shoplifting.
He is currently being questioned by police in Toulon but is expected to be transferred to Evry where his first arrest warrant has been issued.
“After checking the file of the wanted person, they realized that he was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by an investigating judge in Evry,” Toulon prosecutor Samuel Finielz said.
“The man has been taken into custody and measures will be taken to hand him over to the investigating judge who issued the warrant.”
That’s what the Lyon prosecutor said Le Figaro that it was still too early to confirm that Levis E. was involved in the attacks in Rotterdam and Lyon.
But Le Parisien reported that Levis E.’s clothing and DNA matched those of the alleged killer of the homeless in Evry and Lyon.
Meanwhile, the family of the homeless man who was attacked in Rotterdam has launched a fundraising campaign in the hope that he will wake up from the coma.
Benjamin’s sister Amy reportedly published the crowdfunding campaign to ensure that “he never has to sleep rough again,” in the hope that he can recover from his critical condition.
The fundraising campaign had raised more than €26,000 last night.