Former Liverpool striker Anthony Le Tallec has revealed he was at the scene of a stabbing that has shocked France. Three children have been left in a life-threatening condition after being attacked by a lone man carrying a knife near a lake in the French Alps.
Police have confirmed that a total of eight children and an adult were left with injuries following the sickening attack in the southeastern town of Annecy. Three of the children are receiving care for life-threatening injuries.
In a video posted to Instagram, Le Tallec has said he was out on a morning run when he came across people hurriedly running in the opposite direction. He was informed of the incident and told to run away.
The Frenchman, who was sporting Liverpool training gear in the video, said: “I was running by the lake and I saw around ten people running in the opposite direction to me. I asked them what was happening and someone told me, ‘run, run, there is someone stabbing people. He has stabbed some children, run, run!”
Le Tallec also revealed that he witnessed the suspected attacker being chased by police. He then saw injured children on the floor.
He continued: “I saw the guy opposite me, being chased by cops five or ten metres behind him, trying to catch him. I continued. I saw children at the end of the lake, some children on the ground. Some injured children, it’s horrible.”
French police arrested a suspect on Thursday morning. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed that the eight children and one adult had been the victim of a knife attack.
Darmanin tweeted: “Several people including children were injured by an individual armed with a knife in a square in Annecy. The individual was arrested thanks to the very rapid intervention of the police.”
France’s National Assembly observed a minute’s silence on Thursday morning. Roads around the incident remain blocked.
President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “[An] attack of absolute cowardice this morning in a park in Annecy. Children and an adult are between life and death. The nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services mobilised.”
Le Tallec played 32 times for Liverpool, scoring once, after joining from Le Havre in 2003. The now-38-year-old ended his career at Annecy in 2021 and still lives in the area where the knife attack took place in the early hours of Thursday morning.
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