An off-duty police officer who was jogging in the area apprehended the suspect, a 31-year-old man
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Paris-Stabbings-072726-ef225dce0d4d4bed8f3c4f01e17ef90b.jpg "French police block a street after a knife-wielding man wounded three people in Paris on July 27, 2026. A")
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NEED TO KNOW
- A 31-year-old man has been arrested after three women, one of whom is reportedly pregnant, were stabbed in Paris
- The women, all pedestrians, were attacked at around 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday, July 27, in the Porte de Clichy area of the French capital’s 17th arrondissement
- An off-duty police officer who was jogging in the area arrested the suspect, who was said to have been “making incoherent statements”
A man has been arrested after three women, one of whom is reportedly pregnant, were stabbed in Paris, according to authorities.
An individual armed with two knives attacked the three pedestrians at around 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday, July 27, the Paris Police Prefecture and Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office told PEOPLE.
Prosecutors further noted that the suspect, a 31-year-old man, was arrested by an off-duty police officer and taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder.
Police added that emergency services treated the three victims before taking them to the hospital.
According to local outlet Le Figaro, the victims were aged 19, 24 and 36. Two sustained critical injuries to their lower back and abdomen, while the third is in stable condition.
Credit: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP via Getty
The incident took place in the Porte de Clichy area of the 17th arrondissement (district) in the north of the French capital, between a tram stop and a bar.
The off-duty police officer who arrested the suspect was jogging around the tram station when they saw the suspect. They called for backup before following him, per Le Figaro.
Credit: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP via Getty
A resident living nearby told local outlet Le Parisien that he heard loud shouting and thought people were fighting at first.
“I saw a woman with a man, holding each other’s shoulders,” he told the newspaper. “I thought she’d just been mugged. So I went downstairs.”
One witness told Le Figaro she saw a woman lying on the floor in the bar covered in blood, while another told the Agence France-Presse, via La Presse, that she was “doing the dishes” when she saw the man walk by carrying the knives.
“There was a young man with a suitcase… He hit him with the suitcase; he knocked him to the ground,” she added, before claiming that a waiter from a restaurant next door put a chair on the suspect.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the man was “making incoherent statements,” and he would remain “very cautious about the motive for this violent act,” Le Figaro reported.
Credit: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP via Getty
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The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) is monitoring the situation, according to local outlet Le Monde.
In a post on X, Geoffroy Boulard, the mayor of Paris’ 17th arrondissement, condemned the attack and praised the off-duty police officer and a passerby for their “cool-headedness, courage and immediate action.”