The second man involved in the murder of a priest in a church in France has been officially identified as XNUMX-year-old Abdel Malik Petižan, who was previously registered as a "radicalized" person, the prosecutor's office and sources close to the investigation learned today.
Three people from his family circle were detained, said a source close to the investigation.
From them, elements about the killer's profile should be obtained, said the source, adding that at this stage nothing indicates that these persons had anything to do with the attack in the church near Rouen when the priest was killed.
The petitioner has not been charged, and his fingerprints or DNA are not in the police archives, but he was recently noticed by counter-terrorism services.
He has been characterized as "radicalized" since June 29 because he tried to travel to Syria via Turkey, a source close to the investigation said.
He also bears a strong resemblance to the suspect who has been wanted intensively since July 22, a few days before the July 26 attack at the church near Rouen.
The French Unit for the Coordination of the Fight Against Terrorism (UCLAT) received a warning from a foreign service that a man, of unknown identity, was ready to participate in an attack on the territory of France. Attached to that notice was a photo that looks a lot like Abdel Malik Petižan.
During the search of the apartment of a man marked as radicalized, the investigators of the anti-terrorist service found a video recording in his phone. In the video, a man who closely resembled the photo obtained expressed his allegiance to the Islamic State.
The police killed Petižan and the other attacker in the church, who was quickly identified as Adel Kermisch, a 19-year-old Frenchman.
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