French praise ‘hero’ policeman who died after hostage swap
PARIS — A policeman who volunteered himself as a hostage in exchange for a civilian during the siege of a supermarket in southern France died of his injuries, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday.
“By giving his life to stop the deadly plan of a jihadi terrorist, he has fallen a hero,” Macron said.
Lt.-Col. Arnaud Beltrame, 45, had offered to take the place of a female employee being held at the Super-U store in the small town of Trebes. The terrorist was identified as 25-year-old Moroccanborn Radouane Lakdim.
Dozens of people were in the grocery store when he burst in. After volunteering for the hostage swap, Beltrame surrendered his weapon — but kept his cellphone on, allowing authorities outside to hear what was happening inside.
Beltrame was shot several times, prompting the intervention of French special forces, who shot the gunman dead. The siege on the supermarket lasted several hours.
Beltrame’s death brought the number killed in a daylong series of attacks to four. Fifteen others were injured.
Lakdim began his rampage on Friday in the southern town of Carcassonne, a popular tourist attraction, chief anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said.
The attacker shot the owner and passenger of a car, which he then stole. The owner was seriously injured and the passenger was killed.
Then, he opened fire on a group of four police officers returning to their barracks from a jogging session, injuring one of them.
Soon after, he arrived at the supermarket in nearby Trebes, where he shouted “Allahu akbar” and declared himself a soldier of Islamic State.
“Saying that he was ready to die for Syria, he demanded the liberation of ‘brothers,’ before firing on a customer and an employee of the shop, who died on the spot,” Molins said.
Molins said the attacker had been put on a national security watchlist in 2014.
Investigators said on Saturday that a friend of the gunman had been taken into custody, but did not elaborate.