Paris Newspaper Shooting: Suspect Hamyd Mourad Surrenders; Said Kouachi And Cherif Kouachi, Two Other Suspects, Located
Two of the three men who raided the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday, open firing at journalists, have allegedly been located, while the youngest of the three has reportedly turned himself in to authorities.
Paris Newspaper Shooting
Hamyd Mourad, 18, surrendered at a police station in Charleville-Mézières, about 145 miles northeast of Paris. “He introduced himself and was put in custody,” said spokeswoman Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, according to The New York Times.
Brothers Said Kouachi, 34, and Cherif Kouachi, 32, who were born in Paris, are still reported as “on the loose, armed and dangerous” after Mourad turned himself in, police told ABC News.
The Kouachi brothers were reportedly last seen at a gas station in the Aisne district in northern France, about 50 miles northeast of Paris. The manager of the gas station had recognized the men from the news. It’s uncertain if police were able to apprehend the suspects or if they’re still on the loose.
Motivated By Terrorism?
It is believed that the shooting at Charlie Hebdo was an act of terrorism committed by radicalized Muslims. The attackers reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar!” or “God is great!” during the slaughter, according to the BBC. In a video, the men can be heard saying, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad. We have killed Charlie Hebdo!”
“No doubt in my mind that this is terrorism,” Michael J. Morell, a former deputy director of the C.I.A, told the Times. “What we have to figure out here is the perpetrators and whether they were self-radicalized or whether they were individuals who fought in Syria and Iraq and came back, or whether they were actually directed by ISIS or Al Qaeda.”
The trio of men, armed with AK-47 rifles, stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time Wednesday wearing black masks. They burst through the lobby then headed up to the second-floor newsroom, where they fired their machine guns at the journalists. In total, twelve people were killed in the attack and 11 others were injured.
Charlie Hebdo’s editorial director, Stéphane Charbonnier, and the police officer assigned to guard him after numerous threats, were killed, as were cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac.
The nationwide terror alert in France has been raised to its highest level in light of the attacks, as it’s feared there could be more plots against the country.
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