A former student, a Pakistani citizen aged 37, who was expelled from the school last year is being held in police custody in connection with the death of Dowling. The Irish lecturer was stabbed to death for allegedly insulting the prophet Mohammed because he had displayed a drawing of him during class.
French authorities denied that the killer had terrorist links and said that he was rather “pious” and an “obsessive patriot”. They described him as “someone who is very religious, very pious, very practicing”.
The killer told investigators that he stabbed Dowling to defend his faith and also because he held a personal grudge against Dowling, the Daily Mail reported Friday. He had enrolled in the management school in September 2016 and was also told in August 2017 that he had failed the final examination and that he could no longer continue.
Ali R. said Dowling showed the class of a drawing of the prophet Mohammed during class. “He produced a drawing, which he showed off in class, insulting the prophet Mohammed,” Ali told investigators. But no other students recall Dowling displaying a picture of the prophet.
Dowling, who was due to retire soon, died shortly after the violent knife attack as he was returning from his lunch outside the Pôle Universitaire Léonard-de-Vinci, a private university located in La Défense business district in Paris.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen tweeted: “It is with horror that we learn of the death of a teacher at Courbevoie, in front of his school, with his throat slit by a former student. A threshold has been crossed in the barbarity that contaminates our country, and which spreads amid total indifference by the government.”
C’est avec effroi que nous apprenons la mort d’un enseignant à Courbevoie, devant son établissement, égorgé par un ancien étudiant.
Un palier est franchi dans la barbarie qui contamine notre pays, et qui s’étend dans l’indifférence totale du gouvernement. MLP
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) December 5, 2018
“Tributes to John have been many and he has been described as a kind, respectable and gentle man,” a newspaper from his hometown, The Donegal reported.
“He was a profoundly kind person. No one understands why he was attacked, though some people are talking about revenge,” a former student told French weekly Paris Match.
Another student said that she felt “deeply shocked and terrified … You could never imagine this could happen in our school, to one of our teachers”.
Some 8 000 students are enrolled at the university, which offers a management programme for foreign students.
Witnesses told Le Parisien newspaper that the two men had had a brief conversation at the front entrance of the university, after which the Pakistani took out a knife and stabbed the lecturer 13 times in the throat.
“He tried to flee but two security guards from the university managed to hold him down until police arrived,” a student explained to the French daily. She said she was convinced the attack had been premeditated.
Pascal Brouaye, the director of the university, held an impromptu press conference after the fatal stabbing. He praised Dowling’s “exemplary record” and described him as “always extremely kind” adding that “everyone loved him”.
Brouaye told the media that the Pakistani student had been extremely unhappy when he was told that he had to leave the establishment.
But the director of the management school, Sebastien Tran, said there had been no “particular conflict” between Dowling and killer. “In any case, we had not heard of any threats.”
The killer’s bloodstained knife was found at the scene. The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to his family.
Students from the university who witnessed the killing as well as fellow professors were treated for shock, while all classes were cancelled for the day.