Orthodox priest in France shot at church; attacker sought

 A Greek Orthodox Priest was shot and killed in Lyon, France on October 31. The Priest was closing up the church when a man holding a hunting rifle shot him. Nikolaos Kakavelakis, was shot at twice and seriously injured in the stomach at about 4pm local time on Saturday. He was rushed to the hospital with a serious injury. They rushed the Priest to the hospital for immediate surgery. Two days before this incident there was a knife attack in a catholic church that killed three people: "The three victims were identified as two women, ages 60 and 44, and a 55-year-old man who was officiating part of the church service". Professionals believe that these two cases are linked together. Witnesses said they heard the attacker say "Allahu akbar" which means God is great. These attacks could be a symbol of a war on religions. The suspected attacker was arrested at 7pm. Not only was he shot twice but there have been more incidents with him. One day when he went for a jog five Moroccans surrounded him and began to make fun of him. Then they began to jump him, only taking his cross and beating him. Nikolaos was scared because he also had his phone and money which they didn't take. I believe he was targeted for what he believed in and practice, but Christos Koutsiouris think otherwise. He says “Maybe they have stigmatized him since then”. This doesn't make much sense because they only stole his cross. This must symbolize something much greater than stealing the cross and just losing interest. Although the cross could have looked valuable to the attackers which is why that was the only thing stolen.

BY: AJ Frantzeskakis