Controversy escalated throughout the week following the stabbing on Friday, April 25 of Aboubakar Cissé, a young Malian praying at the mosque of La Grand-Combe in southern France, as to how the killing should be described. The prosecutor in Nîmes, Cécile Gensac, speaking for the first time on Friday, May 2, explained why the acts by suspect Olivier H. were not being treated as terrorism.

The 20-year-old murderer "acted in an isolated context, without any ideological claims or links to an organization," Gensac said. "The motives for the attacker's actions quickly appeared deeply personal: a desire to kill someone, regardless of the target," against a backdrop of "morbid fascination." He acted "in an isolated context," driven by an "obsessive desire to kill" that he had widely shared on social media.

At this stage, there is no explanation for why "he entered this mosque" and attacked this specific person, said Gensac. The initial investigations paint a picture of the murderer as a young man born in Béziers to a non-practicing Christian family of 11 children, and who watched violent videos, notably of people self-harming live, she noted.

Two days before the attack, he had expressed plans to act on the social media platform Discord. Two users then reported him on PHAROS, a government platform for flagging illegal online content and behavior. The prosecutor also mentioned the testimony of a young woman who had reported the future murderer's online content, where he had expressed, over the previous year, "desires to rape women, to murder and rape corpses."

Gensac detailed the murderer's messages on the morning of the events on April 25, shortly after 9 am, on a Discord discussion forum frequented by this young woman.

"I'm going to do it today, I'm going to do it in the street," declared Olivier H. "Do you know him?" a user responded. "No," he replied. "Am I going to attack the mosque? I don't have much of an idea."

Once in front of the mosque, he said, referring to his future victim, "he's Black, I'm going to do it." Just after the murder, having stabbed Cissé 57 times, Olivier H. filmed a video facing his dying victim and broadcast it on Instagram, saying twice: "I did it (…), your shitty Allah." According to one of two online witnesses, the murderer described himself as "schizophrenic" in his video, adding that he needs to commit "two more acts to become a serial killer."

The fact that the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) did not classify the murder as terrorism does not "minimize the severity of the acts," according to the Nîmes prosecutor, adding that the PNAT "will remain on alert" on this case. A judicial investigation, opened on April 28, has been entrusted to an investigating judge for "aggravated murder" with premeditation and targeting "race or religion."

On Thursday, the Cissé family's lawyers, Yassine Bouzrou and Mourad Battikh, announced plans to file a request to have the investigation reclassified as a terrorist murder.

The murderer, who surrendered on Sunday evening at a police station near Florence, Italy, where he has family, is expected to be handed over to France "by the end of next week," according to Gensac. In his initial statements to Italian investigators, the young man admitted to the murder but denied acting out of hatred for Islam, claiming, according to his Italian lawyer, "to have killed the first person he found."

Several funeral prayers were held on May 2, in memory of Cissé. Approximately 700 people gathered inside and outside the Khadidja mosque in La Grand-Combe, where the young man was killed. Before the burial, which will take place in Mali, the casket will be taken on Monday morning to the Grand Mosque in Paris. The same day, Cissé's family will meet with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, along with representatives of the High Council of Malians in France.

Retailleau, who as interior minister is also the minister for religious affairs, faced strong criticism for taking more than 48 hours to travel to area, and only did so to meet investigators in neighboring Alès, avoiding the town of La Grand-Combe itself. He was also criticized for his delay in meeting the Cissé family. The local state prefect took four days before visiting the mosque where the tragedy occurred. A minute of silence was nevertheless observed on April 29 at the Assemblée Nationale in tribute to Cissé, despite a lack of consensus among parliamentary group leaders.