One of the hostages grabbed one of Amedy Coulibaly’s two AK-47s and tried to kill him, but the gun was jammed and he was shot dead instead
Michael B, one of the surviving hostages in the Paris kosher shop described what happened during the store takeover and the subsequent standoff between Islamic terrorist Amedy Coulibaly and the French police.
IT EMERGES ONE SHOPPER AT JEWISH GROCERY STORE WAS EXECUTED WHEN HE GRABBED ONE OF TERRORIST’S GUNS AND IT JAMMED
Hostages killed are named as Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham and Francois-Michel Saada
Mail Online
January 10, 2015
Yohan Cohen, 22, Yoav Hattab, 21, Philippe Braham, in his forties, and François-Michel Saada, believed to be in his sixties, were the four hostages killed in the terrorist attack on the Paris kosher supermarket Friday. One of them is said to have snatched one of the extremist's guns and turned it on the hostage taker - only to find that the weapon had jammed.
The dramatic account was revealed by a survivor who fled the shoot-out as armed police officers and soldiers raided the store yesterday.
Mickael B, as he wishes to be known, was held in the store with his three-year-old son when the fellow hostage suddenly grabbed the weapon which had been left on the counter and tried to fire it at terrorist Amedy Coulibaly.
But, after discovering the gun had been left there because it was malfunctioning, the extremist shot and killed the heroic hostage.
Giving a terrifying account, Mickael said: ‘I was heading for the check-out with the goods in my hand when I heard a bang – very loud. I thought it was a firecracker at first. But turning I saw a black man armed with two Kalashnikov rifles and I knew what was happening.’
‘I grabbed my son by the collar and fled to the back of the store. There, with other customers, we ran down a spiral staircase into the basement. We all piled into one of two cold rooms – our door wouldn’t close. We were terrified.
‘Five minutes later a store employee was sent down by the killer. She said he said we were to go back up otherwise there’d be carnage. I refused to go up.
‘By now my son, understanding nothing, was panicking. Then minutes later the employee comes back down with the same message. This time I decided to follow her up the spiral staircase.
‘At the top a man was dying in a pool of his own blood. The terrorist introduced himself to us. He was strangely calm. "I am Amedi Coulibaly, Malian and Muslim. I belong to the Islamic State," he told us.'
‘Then he told us to put our phones on the ground. He walked around the store, armed, totally justifying himself, speaking of Palestine, French prisons, his brothers in Syria and many other things.
‘Suddenly one of the customers tried to grab one of his guns which he’d left on the counter. It wasn’t working. The terrorist had put it there because it had blocked after the first shots,' Mickael told Le Point.
‘He turned and shot at the customer who died on the spot.'
Mickael added: 'He then demanded that I call the media, which I did. From then on the phone in the store never stopped ringing. It was mainly journalists. I told them now was not the time. My son started to cry he wanted to go home. He said the terrorist was a bad man.
‘I managed to get my phone out discreetly and got in touch with the police outside while the terrorist was roaming the aisles.
‘A policeman told me that we should be ready to throw ourselves flat on the ground when the assault came, which would be soon.
‘It was obvious that the terrorist was preparing to die. He said it was his reward. He had a weapon in each hand and boxes of cartridges nearby. He suddenly began to pray.
‘My mobile was still on. The police had heard it all. Minutes later the shop grille was lifted. We knew it was the start of the assault.
‘We flung ourselves to the ground. The noise was deafening. He was dead. It was over.’
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