France: Vehicular Attack by Chechen in Caen: Two Dead

On Wednesday night in the city of Caen in northern France, a Russian national of Chechen origin was arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder after he allegedly drove his car into a group of people standing at a bus stop in front of the train station. Two people were killed and nine injured. The suspect, 26, was arrested later that evening in a coastal town about 20 kilometers away. Under questioning, he told police that he had been the victim of a violent attack earlier that evening in front of the train station. The suspect remains in custody while police dig further into his story and determine his exact motivations.

The prosecutor’s office is ruling out terrorism, and possible motives include a lover’s dispute or animosity between the Chechen and Afghan communities. One of the victims is Afghan. The below article, from Le Monde, which does not mention the victims’ nationalities, is translated by Fousesquawk. Other news sites state that the victims are of French, Afghan, Egyptian, and Bangladeshi nationalities.  

Caen: A car plows into pedestrians, two dead and nine injured

An individual plowed into a group of about ten persons while driving his car on Wednesday, August 26, around 10 pm in the area of the railroad station. The suspected perpetrator was arrested. “The hypothesis of a terrorist act is ruled out,” according to the National Prosecutor’s Office.

-Le Monde with Agence France Presse

Posted 27 August 2026 at 09:37, updated 27 August 2026 at 20:14. (Republication of article dated 27 August 2026 at 00:26)

Caption: Police at the scene where a driver struck a group of about ten people in the train station area, near a bar in Caen on  August 26, 2026.

A second person is dead after a driver deliberately plowed his car into a group of people on Wednesday, August 26, near a bar in Caen, while behind the wheel of his car before being arrested. “The toll now stands at two persons deceased and nine injured,” the prefecture of Calvados confirmed to Le Monde on Thursday morning.

“On August 26, 2026, around 10:10 pm, a vehicle struck a group of persons, ages 17-36 years, who were at a bus stop opposite the Caen train station. A man of about 30 died at the scene, a second person, aged 28, died during the night at the CHU (hospital) in Caen, and some ten men were injured, of whom several suffered fractures to the lower limbs,” the National Prosecutor, Joel Garrigue, explained Thursday morning in a statement.

The driver of the vehicle, a Russian national of Chechen origin, 26, was arrested in Ouistraham, a town located about 20 kilometers away on the coast, also according to the prosecutor. According to his initial statements, “he had been attacked in front of the Caen train station earlier in the evening, “he added.

During his interrogation, the suspect “talked about violence that he had been subjected to in front of the train station before the incident. His statements will, obviously, be thoroughly checked,” the prosecutor continued. The man was not intoxicated at the time of the incident. “The suspect is (….) in regular (immigration) status in France and has no criminal convictions,” he added.

Murder investigation

“The hypothesis of a terrorist act is now excluded,” stressed the National Prosecutor Thursday evening. “All other hypotheses are now being explored without favoring or confirming any of them,” he added in a statement announcing the extension of custody of the suspect until Friday evening.

“The terrorist angle is definitely ruled out; it was not an attack,” declared the mayor of Caen, Aristide Olivier (independent right), during a press conference Thursday afternoon. Nor was there any “actual connection” between this tragedy and narco-trafficking, the mayor said, the area of the train station being known for its insecurity. The elected official had mentioned the angle of “a lover’s quarrel,” without giving further details. 

The findings made at the locations, and several witness statements gathered, indicate that the vehicle did not attempt to brake, nor did it take evasive measures; on the contrary, it allegedly altered its course in order to make contact with the victims and strike them, Joel Garrigue related. “Not all of the hospitalized victims have been questioned, and the statements of the suspect have to be investigated and clarified in order to understand the motives of his act, which could be ascribed within the context of animosity between the Chechen and Afghan communities,” he added. 

An investigation has been opened, “on charges of murder, attempted murder, and intentional violence with a weapon, and is continuing to determine with precision the sequence of tragic events,” the statement concludes.  

Source: http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2026/08/france-vehicular-attack-by-chechen-in.html