Crime

Muslim Man Hailed for Life-Saving Courage During Paris Siege

Published

11 years ago

January 13, 2015

By Raphael Satter, AP

At a kosher supermarket in Paris, a quick-thinking Muslim employee hid several Jewish shoppers in the basement before sneaking out to brief police on the hostage-taker upstairs.

In the days after the bloody end of twin French hostage crises Friday, stories of life-saving courage are beginning to filter out. One of the most striking is the story of Lassana Bathily, a young immigrant from Mali who literally provided police with the key to ending the hostage crisis at the supermarket.

Bathily was in the store’s underground stockroom when gunman Amedy Coulibaly burst in upstairs, according to accounts given to French media and to a friend of Bathily’s who spoke to The Associated Press. Bathily turned off the stockroom’s freezer and hid a group of frightened shoppers inside before sneaking out through a fire escape to speak to police.

Initially confused for the attacker, he was forced to the ground and handcuffed.

Once police realized their mistake, he provided them with the key they needed to open the supermarket’s metal blinds and mount their assault.

“The guy was so courageous,” said Mohammed Amine, a 33-year-old friend and former coworker of Bathily’s who spoke to him about the assault on Saturday.

Witnesses and authorities have corroborated Bathily’s account.

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk on the record, explained that the key Bathily gave police allowed them to storm the supermarket without having to punch their way through the shutters.

Police used Bathily’s key to mount their assault, killing Coulibaly and freeing 15 hostages.

Amid the bravery, there was also tragedy. Police found four hostages dead inside the supermarket, apparently shot by Coulibaly when he entered the store.

Among them was Yohan Cohen, a 22-year-old who Amine said was “someone amazing, friendly, who likes (and) who respects people.”

“I’m Muslim and he’s Jewish,” said Amine, an immigrant from Morocco. “But there’s such respect between us. We’re like brothers.”

“They took my best friend.”