An unidentified individual attacked passerby with a homemade weapon at Gare Du Nord train station.

This morning, a currently-unidentified individual present at Paris’ Gare Du Nord train station suddenly began to attack passerby with a homemade bladed weapon. Six people were stabbed until the assailant was subdued by an off-duty police officer, who non-fatally injured him with their pistol. The motive for the crime is currently unknown.

Both the attacked individuals and the attacker himself were transferred to a local hospital, where one of the attacked and the attacker are both reportedly in critical condition.

“My friends and I were going on holiday this morning and we were at the entrance of the station when we heard people yelling,” said Paris local and eyewitness Lili, who was interviewed after the fact by CNN affiliate BFMTV.

“We saw two people on the ground. One was hitting the other. People tried to pull them apart and that’s when the attacker pulled out his weapon. People started yelling ‘knife!’ and began running away. I helped the first victim who had been attacked and I got the impression that the individual was attacking all the people who tried to get near him and overpower him.

“I helped the injured person who had been attacked and was in a state of shock. I brought them to the police and I then tried to find my friends and that’s when we heard the gunshots. The armed forces responded very quickly to the attack. It didn’t even last five minutes even though it felt like an eternity to me.

“We are all shocked by what we saw. We were two meters away. It could have been one of us because we were so close. It’s very traumatic.”