Former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec has said he witnessed the horrific stabbing attack in a lakeside park in the town of Annecy on Thursday morning that left a number of people badly injured.
Four young children and an adult were wounded in the incident, which began when a man armed with a knife entered their playground, according to police, with two of the youngsters and the adult left battling life-threatening injuries.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin has since said that the suspected attacker had been arrested.
Le Tallec, who played for Liverpool between 2001 and 2008, retired in 2021 and now works as a coach at the Alpine town’s football club said in an Instagram story: “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!”
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.”
Le Tallec played for Liverpool for seven years, although only made 32 appearances during that time as he had a number of loan spells at the likes of Sunderland, Le Havre and Sochaux before leaving permanently for Le Mans.
He won international caps for France up to Under-21 level and although he didn’t find huge success in the Premier League, a decent spell in Ligue Un has helped him start a coaching career.
Meanwhile, president Emmanuel Macron called the attack an act of “absolute cowardice” and said the “nation is in shock”, pledging to give an address about the incident later on Thursday.
Mr Macron said that those badly hurt were “between life and death”.
The alleged attacker is said to be a Syrian national, police sources told local media. It is believed he was not known to security agencies.
