Charlie Hebdo Paris shooting: Shots fired and 'hostages taken' in Kouachi brothers manhunt

[Bosonic]

Source: IBTimes

A gunfire exchange and a car chase have been reported near Paris' Roissy airport, northeast of the French capital, in the hunt for two brothers suspected of carrying out the deadly attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Two men corresponding to the description of the fugitive gunmen Cherif and Said Kouachi stole a car in Montagny Sainte-Félicité in the Oise region this morning, security sources said.

Shooting was later heard in the nearby town of Dammartin-en-Goële, with unconfirmed reports of an ongoing hostage situation.

Security forces including several police helicopters were deployed in the area.

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting-shots-fired-hostages-taken-kouachi-brothers-manhunt-1482614

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#BREAKING Shots fired in car chase north-east of Paris: police source
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/553466291713875968

#BREAKING Hostages taken north-east of Paris: police
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/553469733656203264

[inanna]

1. Bloomberg News:

Shots Fired, Hostages Taken in Town Northeast of Paris

Shots were fired in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele outside of Paris as police hunted the suspects in the massacre of journalists at French magazine Charlie Hebdo, RTL Radio reported.

Hostages were taken at a business in the town, RTL reported. Dammartin-en-Goele is about 8.4 miles northeast of Charles de Gaulle Airport in France’s Seine-et-Marne department. A car was stolen this morning in Montagny-Sainte-Felicite, a nearby town, RTL said.

Yesterday, elite counter-terrorist police surrounded three hamlets 70 kilometers (44 miles) northeast of Paris in an effort to find Said Kouachi, 34, and his 32-year-old brother Cherif. The villages –- Corcy, Fleury, and Longpont –- border a dense forest larger than the city of Paris.

France is in the midst of one of the largest manhunts in its history after 12 people were killed on Jan. 7 at Charlie Hebdo’s Paris offices by masked men brandishing Kalashnikov assault rifles. Tensions mounted yesterday after a policewoman was shot and killed just outside Paris, although there’s no indication the incident is connected to the earlier attack.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-09/shots-fired-hostages-taken-in-town-northeast-of-paris.html

[Baclava]

26. Paris under attack

Sky News live stream

[trusty elf]

2. I hope they can catch them without much further bloodshed.

[OnePercentDem]

13. Agreed

I hope that we get to see how cowardly these two POS are on TV as they surrender and then beg for their sad little lives.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. BBC reports a 'siege', at least one hostage

The siege is in Dammartin-en-Goële at a construction firm.

09:05

At least one person has been killed and several injured in the shootout ahead of a hostage taking in Dammartin-en-Goele, according to Reuters news agency.

Posted at 08:54

Unconfirmed reports also suggest the situation may involve one or more hostages.

Posted at 08:53

Police sources say it is possible the suspects have entered a building on the outskirts of Dammartin-en-Goele.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-30722098

AFP says the French government denies there has been anyone killed yet, and the siege is at a printing business, not a construction firm.

[greyl]

5. "a printing business"?

Wonder if that's a coincidence.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. I think just a coincidence - it sounds like it's been pretty chaotic

Last edited Fri Jan 9, 2015, 06:13 AM - Edit history (1)

in the chase from the area they were yesterday.

Update: yes, just a coincidence:

Le Monde reports that the company at the centre of the police operation, Création Tendance Decouverte, makes signs and exhibition stands for other companies. Its head office is in Paris. The police operation is taking place at its workshop which is in Dammartin-en-Goële.

AFP says one person is being held hostage in the building.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/09/charlie-hebdo-manhunt-kouachi-terrorist-links-live-updates#block-54afa421e4b0fd6a23617e20

[BooScout]

16. Perhaps Ironic is more accurate. n/t

[inanna]

4. France24 live feed on youtube:

Ticker says one person dead, several injured in shootout.

[JDDavis]

22. Thanks for the live ENGLISH news feed. n/t

[Yo_Mama]

6. According to der Spiegel, they're in a printing press.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/charlie-hebdo-geiselnahme-nach-schiesserei-a-1012062.html

Wieviele Geiseln aktuell in der Gewalt der Männer sind, ist unklar. Ort des Geschehens ist die Fabrikationshalle einer Druckerei in Dammartin-en-Goele. Das bestätigte die Polizei laut "Le Monde". Die Stadt liegt rund 40 Kilometer nord-östlich von Paris und befindet sich in der Nähe des Flughafens Roissy.

"How many hostages are currently in the power of the men is unclear. The site of the incident is the production hall of a printing press in Dammartin-en-Goele. Confirmed by police according to "Le Monde". The city lies around 40 kilos northeast of Paris and is in the vicinity of Roissy airport.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Man claims to have met one of the hostage-takers

France Info radio has obtained an extraordinary account from a salesman who said he shook one of the suspect’s hands when they arrived at the printing business at 8.30am this morning, writes Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.

The man, who would only gave his name as Didier, said he had an appointment with Michel, the owner of the printing and publicity material business. Didier said he shook one of the gunmen’s hands who he took to be police special operations officer. He was dressed in black and was heavily armed with at least one rifle.

He said when he arrived at the business his client came out to meet him with what he took to be a policeman, dressed in black combat gear, with a bullet-proof vest.

“We all shook hands and my client told me to leave.” Didier added that the man he took to be the policeman said: “Go, we don’t kill civilians”. He added “I thought was strange.”

He said: “As I left I didn’t know what it was, it wasn’t normal. I did not know what was going on. Was it a hostage taking or a burglary?”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jan/09/charlie-hebdo-manhunt-kouachi-terrorist-links-live-updates#block-54afaddce4b0461a99f139e5

Weird, if true. You'd think if they'd already taken the owner hostage, they wouldn't have gone out in the open with or without him. But they didn't take 'Didier' hostage as well.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. That does sound a bit strange. I expect it'd be pretty chaotic and confusing right now...

Something I've been wondering is why the military hasn't gotten involved as well. With the Sydney siege last month, people were asking why the military wasn't brought in when they thought it was a terrorist attack, but seeing the cops knew early on who they were dealing with and he wasn't a terrorist, I guess that's why the military never got involved. But this case in France is terrorism...

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. The gendarmerie is pretty military

There's plenty of officers with machine guns in the pictures, including in the helicopters.

[ellenrr]

9. from twitter:

Chris Morris
BBC News, near Dammartin-en-Goele
Posted at 10:39

reports that French media sources say police have made contact with the two suspects, who are quoted as saying they are prepared "to die through martyrdom".

~~~~time is UK time

[Rhinodawg]

10. Report: They want to die as martyrs.

I suspect they want an airplane to Yemen.

These 2 guys were sent by AQAP. That really changes everything.

We know have home-delivery terrorism.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. They'd said they were with Al Qaeda in Yemen 2 days ago

It changes nothing.

Cédric Le Béchec, a 33-year-old estate agent, witnessed the attack on the satirical magazine.

He said that the men arrived in a black car, stopping in the middle of the street. One of them was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade. They were dressed in black military-style clothing.

Mr. Le Bechec said that before launching the assault, the attackers approached another man in the street saying, “Tell the media that this is Al-Qaida in Yemen.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/07/charlie-hebdo-gunmen-claimed-to-be-yemeni-al-qaeda-witness/

[Lurks Often]

21. GIGN may very well oblige them in their desire to be martyrs

GIGN has a reputation of being very good at what they do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie_Intervention_Group

It is certain that GIGN has snipers around the perimeter and if they get a chance, they'll shoot both of the terrorists.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

28. So do we. They call them drones. n/t

[LiberalElite]

15. This reminds me of those two Tsarnyev brothers

in Massachusetts - the swat teams, body armor, helicopters, armored military vehicles all in a small town... "shelter in place" ...

[BooScout]

17. They've scrambled the phone lines in the area n/t

[reorg]

18. they are going to be dead in short order

and nobody will be left to tell a story. That's just as well, I guess, since we already know everything we need to know, don't we.

[Codeine]

19. Oh, knock it off. nt

[reorg]

36. how come I could see in the future?

I am not amazed.

[geek tragedy]

38. it was your idiotic suggestion that they would be killed as part of a government conspiracy

to keep them silent, rather than the painfully obvious rationale that these are standard jihadi fanatics who want to die a violent death.

[reorg]

39. well, I said we know everything already, didn't I n/t

[christx30]

23. If they surrender peacefully,

there won't be any more bloodshed. But the cops aren't going to risk dying for some stupid murderer asshole, and shouldn't be expected to.

[reorg]

35. sure, whatever you said ... n/t

[christx30]

37. So what would you do?

You have a couple of murderous assholes shooting at you, taking hostages, within 48 hours after slaughtering an office full of people. Do you get a megaphone and try to talk to them and risk death? Or do you shoot back to try to end the threat to yourself and the hostages?
The hostage takers could have end it peacefully. Throw out their weapons, walk out with their hands up, and submit to arrest. They chose to shoot and die for their stupid cause.
Again, how would you have handled it from the perspective of the police or the brothers?

[reorg]

40. I am glad I am not a policeman in this situation

for sure. But 2 against 55,000, the odds are those in the majority are at an advantage and could try a few things, like waiting?

Anyway, it seemed obvious to me there was no way in hell these two would get out of there alive.

[christx30]

41. I agree, I wouldn't want to be a cop

to have to make that kind of decision. But I don't think waiting could have done any good in this case. These people really had nothing to lose in this case. They knew they weren't going to walk out of there after what they did. It was either dying, or spend the rest of their lives in prison. Plus, they wanted to be martyrs. I'm sure the police knew this, and weren't taking any chances. You don't want to run the risk that one of them wouldn't run out of there, guns blazing and try to kill as many cops as possible. You end the threat, and quickly. And in a fight, where lives are on the line, you don't want a fair fight. You want it as lopsided in your favor as you can.

[BooScout]

20. Police walking around Paris with unholstered pistols.....

According to Sky News, police around Paris are walking around with unholstered pistols as both hostage/terror situations unfold.

[BooScout]

24. 3rd incident now being reported

Now they (SKY) are starting to have reports of a 3rd incident......no details yet and no confirmation yet.

[Bosonic]

25. Yes, at or near Trocadero, now classified as false alarm

[brooklynite]

27. Students in Dammartin-en-Goële being evacuated

Reportedly gunmen came to agreement with police to allow evacuation

[KingCharlemagne]

29. Well, at least there's that. This ain't the kids' fight. - nt

[JDDavis]

30. This link is really excellent on Youtube live stream

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7

In English, from Paris

Excellent maps, and thankfully no American "experts" pontificating from Washington DC as with CNN Fox and others.

[Bosonic]

31. Being stormed now

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. BBC saying a series of explosions and gunfire for about 1 minute, then quiet

Figures seen on the roof of a building with smoke behind them.

[brooklynite]

32. Reportedly the gunman at the Paris supermarket is demanding their release

[Aristus]

33. Note to any "Freedom Fries" trolls lurking out there:

Do you see this? The French don't fuck around with this shit. They get it done!

After 9/11, Bush tried frantically to look anywhere but in the direction of old family friend Osama Bin Laden, and blundered our country into a trillion-dollar sinkhole we'll be decades recovering from (to say nothing of Iraq).

Go after the people who did it. That may seem like a complex concept to the laughably inert Republican mind. But the French get it. And they're doing their business...