This is the horrifying moment a man was stabbed in the neck by a stranger after accidentally bumping into him in a subway station in France.
The chilling encounter took place shortly after the attacker disembarked a train at the Guillotière metro station in Lyon on Sunday.
He is seen on CCTV footage exiting the platform and walking towards the stairs, just as another man accidentally stumbles into him.
They appear to share a brief exchange before the attacker chases after the stranger and plunges a knife into his neck.
He then casually walks away, while the victim places his hand on the wound and looks around in confusion – seemingly unaware he has just been stabbed.
The attacker immediately fled the scene after the attack and police are now desperately searching for the suspect, Frontières media reported.
Meanwhile, the victim was treated by emergency services at the scene and taken to hospital, it added.
One source told Frontières it was a ‘miracle’ the man survived the attack and took just five days off work to recover.
A man, who stabbed a stranger in the neck, is seen on CCTV footage exiting the platform just before the attack on Sunday
He begins walking towards the stars just as another man accidentally stumbles into him
They appear to share a brief exchange before the attacker chases after the stranger and plunges a knife into his neck
However, it is unknown how severe his injuries were.
The Direction Interdépartementale de la Police Nationale (DIPN) is now investigating the incident.
They told Lyon Mag: ‘An investigation is open and all services are mobilized to find the perpetrator.’
The Guillotière metro station lies in the centre of Lyon, close to the River Rhona and was put into service in 1991.
The attack comes after the French city of Poitiers saw a bloody shoot-out between some 400 gang members back in November.
Clashes broke out in front of a restaurant on November 2 after shots were ‘fired from a passing car, injuring a number of people’, before police could deploy tear gas and storm in to try to restore order.
France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned in November that the country was at ‘tipping point’ on drug-related violence.
The right-wing politician also said that France could come to resemble Mexico, deeply scarred by cartel violence, if action is not taken.
A 15-year-old boy shot in the head during the clashes died from his wounds.
Four other minors, aged between 15 and 16, were also injured by gunshots fired in front of a restaurant during the incident.
Retailleau called for the battle against drug violence to become a ‘nationwide effort’ since becoming interior minister in Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s shaky minority government.
‘The ‘narco thugs’ have no limits anymore… These shootouts aren’t happening in South America, they’re happening in Rennes, in Poitiers… we’re at a tipping point,’ Retailleau told BFMTV at the time.
‘These shootings are not happening in South America, they are happening in Rennes, in Poitiers, in this part of western France once known for its tranquility’, he starkly said.
It comes as gangland violence long associated with Mediterranean port city Marseille has expanded into other French cities in recent years.
Victims can include gang members, some of them minors guarding dealing spots or employed as hitmen, but also innocent bystanders.
A year prior, rioting and looting spread across France following the ‘execution’ killing of a teenager in Paris.
On the night of June 30, 2023, police were locked in fierce clashes with protesters, making 650 arrests nationwide overnight – as public anger spilled out onto the streets of France’s major cities.
Protesters torched cars, barricaded roads and hurled projectiles at police. Other rioters scrawled ‘Vengeance for Nahel’ across buildings and bus shelters as a bank was set ablaze.
The disorder was reportedly arranged over social media in response to the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. who was shot dead in his car by French police.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
