Report on Paris police killer
[Transcript] Here are updates on the Paris knife attack that killed three police officers and a police administrative employee. He has been identified as Mickael Harpon and is confirmed to be a deaf person.
Here is a report on him from Sandy Mercurio, a Deaf French journalist.
SANDY MERCURIO
The man Mickael Harpon (sign name) was born on the island of Martinique, which is part of France. He has lived in Paris with a wife and two children. He worked in the police headquarters since 2003. He is hard of hearing and can sign and speak. The Deaf community is in shock because they viewed him as a good person who was sweet, friendly, and quiet. He was not popular or had previous incidents. Everything was normal. His neighbors and co-workers also expressed shock that he killed four people and injured one yesterday.
There are two possible reasons why. The first is on discrimination. He has frequently asked his superior for an interpreter so he can undergo training to gain promotions, but was told that it was not needed, or that an interpreter was too expensive, or that he was “fine” because he could speak. Harpon told a woman, who shared it with me, that he felt frustrated at seeing new co-workers come in and get promoted after only a few years. But he remained at the same position for 20 years without a promotion. This was very frustrating for him. Maybe that’s what made him kill. But many others said it was hard to tell if it was discrimination because he was a very quiet person who kept to himself. He didn’t talk about his problems.
A second possible motive is religion. He recently converted to Islam and it has been more than a year. He chooses to not touch women. It is France’s way to give greetings with kisses, handshakes, or the like. Harpon has done this for years until his conversion to Islam. It caused confusion among female co-workers on why he changed. His boss called him to ask why he didn’t greet them and he said it was because of his conversion to Islam. After the killing, people suspected it was because of ISIS, but police investigators said they didn’t think it was because of ISIS, but another reason. Maybe it’s deaf-related discrimination? It’s a big issue for the Deaf community here. We’ll see what updates come on the news.
Alex:
Thank you Sandy for the report.
Harpon was shot and killed by a police officer after he stabbed a total of five people. The fifth person is seriously injured.
BBC News reported today that the investigation has been handed over to terrorism specialists based on new information, but it is not known to the public what this new information is.
Harpon’s wife is detained but has not been charged.
There was a moment of silence this morning outside of the police headquarters to honor the four staff who died.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49937446
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