The man, who was on a Catholic pilgrimage in France, threw his backpack at the attacker to fend him off.
A 24-year-old has been hailed the “backpack hero” for confronting the suspect after the stabbing of a British girl and five others in a French park – while using his bag as a shield.
Henri, who was on a nine-month Catholic pilgrimage around France’s cathedrals, said that after realising the extent of the attack he “followed [his] instincts and tried to protect [the] children”.
Four children, aged between 22 months and three years old, were left with “life-threatening injuries” after the suspect, a Syrian refugee named by French media as Abdalmasih H, rampaged through the lakeside park in the town of Annecy.
The most critically injured children were two cousins.
Two adult men were also hurt during the incident – one of whom was injured with the knife and by a shot fired by police as they were arresting the suspect.
Using his bag to swipe at the attacker, and at one point throwing one of the backpacks to fend off his blade, Henri told broadcaster BFMTV that he acted off his instincts and immediately ran after the suspect, trying to scare him off and distance him from the injured.
“I didn’t even think, I must admit the brain really unplugged,” he said.
“For me, it was just impossible to let those who can’t defend themselves get attacked by someone who seemed like a crazy person.
“I had my big 20kg backpack on my back, I tried to run with the big one at first in the park behind him before realising he was much faster than me so I got rid of my big backpack after and followed him with my little bag.”
Henri added: “He tried to attack me at some point, our eyes have met.
“I understood that it wasn’t a guy in a normal state, something really bad was inside of him and it had to absolutely be stopped.
“I am far from alone in having reacted.
“Many other people around started, like me, to run after him to try to scare him, push him away.
“And other people immediately went over to the children to take care of the injured.”