L‘man with a knife, who had been holding two women since Monday afternoon in a shop in the 12th arrondissement in Paris, released one of them unharmed, the police headquarters announced on Twitter. “The madman has just freed one of the hostages, who is unharmed. Negotiations are still ongoing ”with the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), tweeted the PP.
Known in the neighborhood for his psychiatric disorders, the hostage taker would have asked to see Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice. According to Europe 1, the Minister of Justice informed the negotiators that he was at their disposal. The search and intervention brigade is on site. The first deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, announced to go there.
The police source a priori rules out the terrorist trail. The hostage taker, “aged about fifty”, held the hostages “in a stall” in the Bastille district. It would be the manager of this “hardware store” and her 23-year-old daughter, according to a police source. The man would have been identified, he presents himself as being of Tunisian origin. He would have been a magistrate in his country until 2011.
hostage taking #Paris # Paris12 the hostage taker Abderramne BJ, according to his declared identity, would be a Tunisian ex-magistrate in office at least until 2011. In Paris12, he is known for a psychiatric history https://t.co/avHvGJoAoK
– aziz zemouri (@ azizzemouri1) December 20, 2021
Omar Raddad’s lawyer dispatched
A large security perimeter has been set up “between the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine and the rue Crozatier”, according to Samuel, a resident of the district interviewed by Agence France-Presse, specifying that a hotel had closed its doors. Dozens of police cars, bikers, soldiers from Vigipirate and the BRI truck were mobilized, added this witness.
At the request of the suspect, Sylvie Noachovitch, lawyer for Omar Raddad, would have been put in touch with the hostage taker, as revealed by BFMTV. An investigation was opened in particular of the head of “kidnapping” and was entrusted to the police station of 12e arrondissement, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office.