Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

Figaro is reporting that Cherif C was indeed Fiche S, " for radicalisation"--they don't say what kind, but it's clear they mean Islamic. But he was better-known to police as an accomplished bank robber. Yesterday morning, gendarmes went to his home to arrest him

for armed robbery and attempted homicide. He wasn't there. They arrested all of his accomplices, though. They reportedly found grenades in his home. "According to our information," says Figaro, the hypothesis that the individual acted in desperation,

because all his robbery accomplices were arrested on Tuesday, can't be excluded." But they might be compatible hypotheses: "The radicalization of common criminals is not a new phenomenon. In Belgium, the intelligence services last November warned of [jihadist] recruitment

of common criminals, noting the proliferation of "jihadist gangsters" who have "basculé"--suddenly moved or leapt--toward Islamism.

While he was in the clink, the DGSI (Intelligence service) noted that Chérif C. was both violent and prone to religious proselytism.

Figaro describes this as a "hybrid profile." lefigaro.fr/actualite-fran…

But Strasbourg, as they note in another article, has been known for decades as a jihad factory, and the Strasbourg Christmas market has also been a longstanding target: lefigaro.fr/actualite-fran… An Al-Qaeda cell was dismantled just days before bombing it in 2000.

"Last spring, a local elected official unhesitatingly asserted that ...1/10 of the individuals registered as Fiché S in France lived in the greater Strasbourg area." Anyway, Liberation says the area, because it was targeted in 2000, "is permanently protected

by major surveillance measures. In particular, there are 260 national police stationed there." Soldiers from Operation Sentinelle, too. He exchanged fire with the police twice last night between 8:20 and 9:00 pm,before he escaped. "During the exchange of fire," they write,

"he was wounded by the patrol of Operation Sentinel soldiers that secure the Christmas market ...

According to "l'état-major des armées"--Army chief of staff would be the right translation, yes?--a soldier was wounded slightly, in the hand, by ricochet from the attacker's shot.

Christophe Castaner (Interior min.) said he was "very unfavorably known as a criminal, for which he had already been convicted in France and Germany and for which he'd served his sentences."

Nuñez--Interior Ministry, SecState--confirmed this morning that the assailant was "someone known for committing many crimes not linked to terrorism, but never known from crimes linked to terrorism."

He may have been, like half the people in the Fiche S files, fiché for other reasons, like his propensity to rob banks. He'd been locked up for a long time for those crimes.

Operation Vigipirate, the national security alert system, has been raised to "emergency-attack."

(There are three levels, this is the highest one: gouvernement.fr/risques/compre…)

Border controls will be reinforced, security around Christmas markets will be enhanced to prevent copycats, and there will be more soldiers deployed throughout France as part of Op. Sentinelle.

Now 350 men, including 100 members of the judicial police, the military and two helicopters, are tracking the assailant, says Ministry of the Interior.

The Strasbourg prosecutor just held a press conference. Here's what he said, according to RTBF: rtbf.be/info/monde/det…

Two dead. Another brain dead. The anti-terrorism section has taken over the case in light of the suspect's profile and because witnesses heard him shout "Allah Akbar."

When they searched his home on Tuesday morning, police found a grenade, a loaded weapon, ammunition, 4 knives.

Around 8 pm, he was spotted with a gun in the center of Strasbourg in the heart of the Christmas market. He opened fire several times and brandished a knife. Shot four soldiers, slightly injuring one. He then took a taxi.

The taxi driver said that he mentioned what he'd just done. On his way out of the taxi, he came across police officers. Shots were exchanged.

I'm not judging before more information is available, but I'm perplexed that with so many security forces on the scene, they failed to kill or capture him.

Were they unable to get an open shot because of all the people there?