HERO OFFICER ‘SAVED LIVES’
ISLAMIST GUNMAN KILLS THREE IN FRENCH ATTACK
AFrench policeman who was shot by an Islamist gunman when he swapped himself for a hostage in a supermarket siege has been hailed a hero after the attacker was killed.
The gun-wielding extremist had unleashed a wave of bloodshed in a quiet corner of southern France on Friday, killing three people as he hijacked a car, opening fire on police and then taking hostages in a supermarket, where panicked shoppers hid in a meat freezer or ran through the aisles.
The 26- year- old attacker was slain as police stormed the market with the help of the heroic officer who had switched places with a female captive and suffered life- threatening wounds — one of 16 people injured in the day’s violence.
The officer was identified as Arnaud Beltrame. He managed to surreptitiously leave his phone on so that police outside could hear what was going on inside the supermarket — and crucially, decide when to storm it.
“He saved l i ves,” said President Emmanuel Macron.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the rampage near Carcassonne, a medieval city beloved by tourists, and the town of Trebes.
Macron said investigators will focus on establishing how the gunman, identified as Redouane Lakdim, obtained his weapon, and how he became radicalized. He was known to police for petty crime and drug-dealing and was under surveillance — but not suspected of extremist links.
The hours- l ong drama began in the morning when he hijacked a car near Carcassonne, killing one person in the car and wounding the other, according to French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb.
Lakdim then fired six shots at police officers who were on their way back from jogging near Carcassonne, said Yves Lefebvre, secretary general of SGP Police-FO police union. The police were wearing athletic clothes with police insignia. One officer was hit in the shoulder, but the injury was not serious, Lefebvre said.
Lakdim then went to a Super U supermarket in nearby Trebes, 100 kilometres southeast of Toulouse, shooting and killing two people in the market and taking an unknown number of hostages.
“We heard an explosion — well, several explosions,” shopper Christian Guibbert told reporters. “So I went to see what was happening and I saw a man lying on the floor and another person, very agitated, who had a gun in one hand and a knife in the other.”
He described the assailant as a “very agitated man shouting several times ‘Allahu akbar,”’ or “God is great” in Arabic.
Guibbert said he led his wife and sister- in- law and nearby customers into the meat freezer. Then he went back to see where the assailant was and called police to describe the situation.
Special police units converged on the scene while authorities blocked roads and urged residents to stay away.
Another witness, an employee of the supermarket’s butchery identified only by his first name Jacky, told Europe 1 radio he “heard people shouting and a big boom.”’
“It was a gunshot,” he said. “Then a second gunshot. After that, my colleagues came towards me saying: ‘ Come on Jacky, we need to leave, there’s someone who’s firing shots, he’s shouting “Allahu akbar,” and he’s shot people and he’s shooting at everything.’ We have an emergency exit behind the butcher’s stall and we ran away across the courtyard. We also helped people get out.”
Speaking outside t he supermarket, Collomb said a police team “managed to get some of the people out,” but the attacker kept one hostage back as a human shield.
Beltrame, a 45- year- old lieutenant- colonel, then offered to take the hostage’s place and remained holed up with Lakdim while negotiations to end the standoff continued.
The officer “left his telephone on the table”, to allow police that had surrounded the building to listen in, said Collomb.
As the supermarket standoff reached a crescendo, police heard gunshots inside the building and decided that elite forces had to storm it. Lakdim was killed and two other officers were wounded during the assault, Collomb said.
While France hasn’t had an attack in several months, “the threat remains high,” Macron said, describing ongoing risks from “several individuals who radicalized themselves.”
Friday’s attack occurred in a normally quiet part of France, where the main tourist attraction is the treasured walled city of Carcassonne.
Macron pushed through a tough counterterrorism law last year that gives police extra powers to conduct searches and hold people under house arrest.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the Eiffel Tower was to turn its lights off at midnight in tribute to the victims.
WE HEARD SEVERAL EXPLOSIONS. SO I WENT TO SEE WHAT WAS HAPPENING AND I SAW A MAN LYING ON THE FLOOR AND ANOTHER PERSON, VERY AGITATED, WHO HAD A GUN IN ONE HAND AND A KNIFE IN THE OTHER.