An Afghan asylum-seeker who killed a man and stabbed several others in the French city of Lyon sparked a row about immigration as new details emerged about his rampage.
Investigators said the killer appeared to have psychological problems and had smoked large quantities of cannabis before stabbing the 19-year-old man to death and injuring eight others last 31 August at a bus station in the Villeurbanne suburb.
He was found in public records with two identities and three different dates of birth, making him either 33, 31 or 27-years-old, prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet told a news conference in Lyon on 1 September.
During "confused" interviews with police, he said he was Muslim "who had heard voices saying God had been insulted and instructing him to kill," Jacquet said, adding that the case was being treated as a criminal, rather than terrorist, incident.
Jacquet paid tribute to three bus drivers and other members of the public who had succeeded in cornering the man and persuading him to drop his knife and a meat skewer before the police arrived on the scene.
"I want to pay tribute to the actions of witnesses. Their courageous and controlled intervention was decisive in ending these criminal acts," he added.
Sofiane, a 17-year-old from the area, told AFP on Sunday that the dead man was one of the first to try to reason with the knifeman.
The killer "stabbed him and then when he fell on the ground, he continued," Sofiane explained.
A young girl, still in shock at having witnessed the attack, told AFP: "A man at the 57 (bus) stop started stabbing people left, right and centre."
"Nobody came to help so I threw myself on her (one of the victims) to protect her to prevent him stabbing her again," said the girl, who finally managed to help the woman into the bus.
Investigators said the killer appeared to have psychological problems and had smoked large quantities of cannabis before stabbing the 19-year-old man to death and injuring eight others last 31 August at a bus station in the Villeurbanne suburb.
He was found in public records with two identities and three different dates of birth, making him either 33, 31 or 27-years-old, prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet told a news conference in Lyon on 1 September.
During "confused" interviews with police, he said he was Muslim "who had heard voices saying God had been insulted and instructing him to kill," Jacquet said, adding that the case was being treated as a criminal, rather than terrorist, incident.
Jacquet paid tribute to three bus drivers and other members of the public who had succeeded in cornering the man and persuading him to drop his knife and a meat skewer before the police arrived on the scene.
"I want to pay tribute to the actions of witnesses. Their courageous and controlled intervention was decisive in ending these criminal acts," he added.
Sofiane, a 17-year-old from the area, told AFP on Sunday that the dead man was one of the first to try to reason with the knifeman.
The killer "stabbed him and then when he fell on the ground, he continued," Sofiane explained.
A young girl, still in shock at having witnessed the attack, told AFP: "A man at the 57 (bus) stop started stabbing people left, right and centre."
"Nobody came to help so I threw myself on her (one of the victims) to protect her to prevent him stabbing her again," said the girl, who finally managed to help the woman into the bus.