PARIS—A modern-day pilgrim on a walking tour of France’s cathedrals told journalists on Friday his Catholic faith gave him the strength to fight a man who stabbed four children in a park in Annecy.
Dubbed “the backpack hero”—”le héros au sac a dos”—by media, the 24-year-old who only gave his name as Henri said he was near a playground when he saw the man attacking children in a stroller as their mother tried to shield them on Thursday.
It was God’s will that he was there and able to intervene, he suggested.
“All I know is that I was not there by chance. On my journey to the cathedrals I crossed paths with this man and I have acted instinctively. It was unthinkable to do nothing,” the philosophy and management student told CNEWS….