French Police Use DNA to Identify Second Church Attacker

 French Police Use DNA to Identify Second Church Attacker

 

Police in France have formally identified the second man involved in the brutal church attack earlier this week that left a priest dead.  Nineteen year old Abdel Malik Petitjean was born in eastern France and became know to authorities after he attempted to travel to Syria. Police were able to identify him afte

r his mother provided a DNA sample. Petitjean and Adel Kermiche, also 19, stormed into the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church in northern France during the morning mass Tuesday, slit the throat of an 86-year-old priest and took five more people hostage. The two were both eventually gunned down by police and one of the hostages is still in serious condition. Kermiche had been awaiting trial on terror related charges, and was wearing an electronic bracelet at the time he carried out the attack. The jih

adist group Islamic State released a video showing the two men holding an IS banner and pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande met with religious leaders in an attempt to assuage fears and create interfaith solidarity after this latest in a string of terror attacks in France. Many in the French Catholic community were still in shock a

fter Tuesday's attack. Mohammed Karabila, leader of the regional council of Muslim worship in the area, had just two questions following the attack: “How could a person wearing an electronic bracelet carry out an attack? Where were the police?” Others in the Muslim community called for increased security at religious buildings, but cautioned against lumping the terrorists with the rest of France's Muslim community -- the largest in Europe.