MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st November, 2020) French police have detained a suspected shooter who injured an Orthodox priest in Lyon on Saturday, local media reported.
According to LyonMag, the suspect was detained in the third district of Lyon.
The French authorities have not yet officially confirmed the detention of the suspect.
Earlier in the day, the Orthodox priest was shot in the 7th district of Lyon near a Greek church and the suspected attacker has managed to flee the area. The priest is currently in critical condition.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, the assailant was armed with a hunting rifle with a sawed-off barrel.
Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet told reporters that the motives behind the shooting had not yet been established adding that at this stage, none of the versions of the incident is a priority and none of the versions can be discarded.
Le Figaro newspaper reported, citing informed sources that a terrorist version of the attack had not yet been established, adding that the priest could have a quarrel with a parishioner. Lyon prosecutor's office opened an attempted murder case over the incident, the publication said.
The shooting occurred as France is experiencing national dismay in the wake of an increasing Islamic threat following the brutal murder of French history teacher Samuel Paty by beheading at the hands of a radicalized Chechen teenager in mid-October. The motive for the killing was the use of caricatures of Islamic prophet Mohammad by Paty to teach his students freedom of speech.
At a memorial service for the deceased teacher, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to step up efforts to combat radical islam and expressed support for continued use of cartoons of the Islamic prophet as manifestation of freedom of speech. His comments outraged the Muslim world, with many Islamic countries and communities describing them as insulting.
