DEATH OF A HERO
Policeman weds sweetheart on his deathbed after France terror attack
SIR Paul Mccartney sensed the ghost of fellow Beatle John Lennon yesterday as he joined millions marching to ban guns.
The 75-year-old was at the protest in New York, within sight of the Dakota building where the 40-year-old was killed in 1980.
He said: “As you know, one of my best friends was shot not far from here. It is important to me.”
Protesters also walked through Dublin city centre in solidarity with March For Our Lives rallies across the US.
The event was organised by survivors of last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida which claimed 17 lives.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended rallies across the States and around the world calling for tighter gun control laws.
In a heartbreaking service yesterday, a priest wed Arnaud Beltrame to his tearful partner – then read him his last rites.
Lt Col Beltrame, 44, shot four times in Friday’s supermarket siege, is being hailed a national hero. His death takes the toll from Friday’s rampage to four.
He and his devastated partner, named as vet Marielle Vandenbunder, had undergone a civil marriage and were planning a full church wedding in June. Protester in Dublin yesterday
Father Jean-baptiste said: “I gave him the sacrament of marriage, and the sacrament of the sick.”
He called the hero “an extremely intelligent and courageous man” who had “found his faith”.
The officer was rushed to the hospital in Carcassone, south- west France, after helping to end the three-and-a-half hour siege by Islamic State terrorist Redouane Lakdim in Trebes.
The 26-year-old Moroccan killed a butcher in the Super U store and another victim, thought to be one of the shoppers.
Earlier Lakdim hijacked a car and shot dead a passenger and also
Lt Col Beltrame fired at off-duty police. At the supermarket 20 staff and customers escaped before Lt Col Beltrame took the place of one of the 10 hostages. He left his mobile switched on after the swap so security teams outside could hear crucial details about what was going on inside. French President Emmanuel Macron said: “He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country.” news@irishmirror.ie