Hero French cop dies from injury
THE POLICE OFFICER who swapped places with a female hostage during the siege of a supermarket in southern France has died.
Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, 45, was shot Friday responding to the attack in the French city of Trèbes.
Beltrame offered to exchange himself for one of the hostages trapped in the Super U supermarket, CNN reported.
Interior Minister Gérard Collomb announced the officer’s death overnight in a tweet Saturday morning, bringing the total number killed in the violent supermarket incident to four.
Collomb said Beltrame left his phone on so authorities could hear his interactions with the shooter. Officers rushed the building as soon as they heard gunfire.
The attacker, 25-year-old Redouane Lakdim, was fatally shot by police during the encounter.
The officer’s actions helped bring an end to the gunman’s deadly spree, which French President Emmanuel Macron has dubbed an act of “Islamist terrorism.”