In March 2018: Arnaud Beltrame, colonel of the French gendarmerie, was fatally injured in a supermarket while taking the place of a cashier taken hostage. The assassin, Radouane Lakdim, neutralized during the attack by the police, had already killed three men earlier. Seven people, suspected of having come to his aid, appear from this Monday before the Special Assize Court of Paris.
2 mins
On the morning of March 23, 2018, a young man of 25, Radouane Lakdim, originally from a reputedly difficult city of Carcassonne (Aude), very radicalized and monitored for this (file S) stole a vehicle from a parking lot in this city of South of France. The driver was seriously injured and his passenger, a 61-year-old retired winemaker, was shot and killed.
His deadly race will end 7 km away, in a supermarket in the neighboring town of Trèbes. A 65-year-old customer and the store’s butcher, 50, are murdered.
When the gendarmerie arrives on site, Radouane Lakdim is holding a cashier. Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame comes forward and negotiates a hostage exchange. “ The little lady » as he nicknames it, against himself, “ state representative “. He died there after being mortally wounded.
His assassin will finally be killed by the assault of the GIGN, the National Police Intervention Group. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, indicating that Radouane Lakdim was one of its soldiers. An opportunistic claim according to investigators, no contact with the attacker having been established.
A national tribute will be paid a few days later at the Invalides in Paris, to Arnaud Beltrame, posthumously elevated to the rank of colonel, and unanimously described as “ hero “.
Also listenArnaud Beltrame, the hero France needs
This Monday, 7 people aged 23 to 34, including the assassin’s girlfriend who was also radicalized, met before the Paris Special Assize Court. They are suspected of having provided assistance to the terrorist, without however knowing his intentions. Most of them appear free under judicial supervision, for “ criminal terrorist association », punishable by a maximum of 30 years of criminal imprisonment.