Mayor of Saint-Brieuc attacked with a knife: what we know about his attacker

The mayor of Saint-Brieuc was attacked this Thursday in a bistro in the city, he is slightly injured. The assailant, known to the police, was arrested after a heated arrest. His psychological profile raises questions.

The Mayor of Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor), Hervé Guihard, was attacked this Thursday, September 26, 2024, at the Bistrot de la Poste, rue Saint-Gouéno, around 9 a.m., in the city center according to information from the Telegram. A 45-year-old man struck him several times with the handle of a serrated knife, after threatening several customers of the establishment. The suspect is a “regular” of the bistro, “big and sturdy”, according to the account of witnesses in the columns of France Bleu Armorique. It took the intervention of six police officers and the use of a taser to subdue him before arresting him.

The attacker had already threatened the mayor

Known to the police, the man struck the councilor at least once on the head with the handle of the knife. “It was literally a hostage situation,” the mayor testified in Le Tél&eacutegramme. The elected official was slightly injured in the face during the altercation after defending himself. One of the officers was also injured, according to the Unsa police union. According to information from France Bleu Armorique, the attacker had presented himself in front of the Saint-Brieuc town hall a few minutes before his act. A repeat offender, he had already verbally and publicly attacked Hervé Guihard on May 30, during the visit of Raphaël Glucksmann, then a candidate in the European elections.

The day before, he declared that he was angry with “the institutions”

Monitored for psychiatric disorders, he was present this Wednesday, September 25, before the criminal court as a civil party in a trial concerning the attack on an antifascist festival in Saint-Brieuc. According to Le Télégramme, the man suffers from mental disorders and is said to have a grudge against the city's chief magistrate for unknown reasons. “The day before, at the hearing, he had expressed his desire to be interned, desperate about his personal and family situation,” the daily newspaper specifies. He also declared during the trial to blame “the institutions” according to France Bleu Armorique, the latter would not have “reacted enough after this attack”.

Taken into care in a psychiatric unit ?

A police officer indicates in the columns of France Bleu Armorique that “the individual defended himself, he was very virulent, he had to be put on the ground to succeed in “to arrest him”, a relatively delicate intervention. The Telegram specifies that the 45-year-old man had already made headlines a few weeks earlier by disrupting a cultural event. The public prosecutor of Saint-Brieuc is due to speak this afternoon, and the arrested man should not be placed in police custody but rather join a unit psychiatric.