Prosecutors say the motorist set his car on fire after mowing down pedestrians.
Published on November 5, 2025
Five people have been injured, two seriously, after a driver “deliberately” ran down pedestrians and cyclists on a small French island off the Atlantic coast, prosecutors say.
The incident happened around 9 a.m. local time (8:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the tourist resort of Ile d’Oleron, when a motorist hit people several times on a main road over a 35-minute period, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said from the scene.
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The alleged driver has been arrested and is being investigated for attempted murder, Nunez said. Local media identified him as a 35-year-old French national living in a nearby fishing community.
Earlier in the day, prosecutor Arnaud Larraize said the suspect shouted “God is great” in Arabic when he was arrested. Nunez told reporters that the case was not being investigated for “terrorism.”
The sleepy island of Oleron – home to about 21,000 full-time residents – two helicopters airlifted the seriously injured to the mainland on Wednesday afternoon and a crisis center was set up.
“We are very shocked,” Thibault Brechkoff, mayor of the island’s Dolce d’Oléron commune, told BFM-TV, adding that he personally contacted the mother of one of the victims.
“You are never ready to announce such news,” he said.
Authorities gave varying injury counts, but Nunez confirmed that a 22-year-old woman suffered multiple concussions. Others were treated for multiple injuries and shock, officials said.
The mayor of nearby Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, Christophe Sueur, told The Associated Press news agency that the driver was “He was fully aware of what he was doing.”
A second source told the AFP news agency that police used a Taser to apprehend the suspect as he set his car on fire.
The vehicle was badly burned, with its front end torn off, as police collected evidence later in the day.