Reaction from hometown of France attack suspect

A childhood friend of the Tunisian suspect in the fatal stabbing of a French police official on Saturday expressed his shock at hearing news of the attack.

Mohamed Ben Abdejlil told the AP he had grown up with the 37-year-old man of Tunisian nationality identified by authorities as Djamel G.

Ben Abdejlil, 35, said he had visited Djamel in Rambouillet, where he lived and carried out the attack on Friday, but had not heard from him since.

"I was shocked by what I heard today about what he had done, unbelievable," he said.

French police killed the suspect in the aftermath of the slaying of an unarmed administrative employee at the entrance of her police station in the town outside Paris.

The victim, a National Police employee, had left the station to extend her time on a parking meter and was followed into the entry area by the attacker.

The suspect entered France illegally in 2009 and was given residency papers in 2020, a judicial official said.

While authorities identify him as Djamel, he identifies himself as Jamel on Facebook.

He had staked out the police station ahead of time, anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-France Ricard said.

The preparation, along with statements he said during the attack and the targeting of a police official, prompted the national anti-terrorism prosecutor's office to take over the investigation.

The suspect had no criminal record or record of radicalization, French media reported.

However, witnesses heard him say "Allahu akbar!" Arabic for "God is great," during the attack, said the judicial official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

Infrequent Facebook and Instagram posts from accounts thought to have belonged to the suspected attacker hinted at a man who waffled over the years about his allegiances but showed no overt ties to an extremist ideology.