French Officials Name Suspects in Paris Kosher Market Hostage Situation
Police have named two suspects in the death of a French policewoman last night, and it is believed that they are the two holding a Paris kosher supermarket hostage this morning.
A 32-year-old man, Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene, a 26-year-old woman referred to as his girlfriend, are wanted in connection with a shooting last night that left Clarissa Jean-Philippe, a rookie municipal police officer, dead. The Telegraph reports that two men were already arrested in connection with her death.
Eyewitnesses at the kosher market hostage situation report that the shooters told negotiators “you know who I am,” leading authorities to suspect their involvement in Jean-Phillipe’s death.
According to The Guardian, Coulibaly has a criminal history of thefts and drug-related offenses, and may have traveled to the Middle East to train with terrorist cells along with Cherif Kouachi, one of the two brothers wanted in connection with Wednesday’s massacre at a French satirical magazine.
UPDATE — 9:44 a.m. ET: The Guardian has more details about Coulibaly, highlighting his close connection with Kouachi:
He is 33 and from Juvisy-sur-Orge in Ile-de-France. According to Le Monde, Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were two of the most committed followers of convicted terrorist Djamel Beghal . Telephone conversations reveal that the pair visited Beghal’s home in Murat in the south of France. Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, has been Coulibaly’s partner since 2010 and lived in his home while he was serving a prison sentence, Le Monde said.
Coulibaly is reportedly the only one with a gun, and it is unconfirmed whether Boumeddiene is with him.
UPDATE — 10:12 a.m. ET): More information about Coulibaly and Boumeddiene from The Guardian indicates that Coulibaly was radicalized between 2005 and 2006, after meeting Cherif Kouachi in the Fleury-Mérogis prison, “a huge prison known for its overcrowding.” Coulibaly had previously racked up several convictions for armed robberies in 2001 as a minor.
He was also arrested in 2010 for his involvement in plotting the jailbreak of Smaïn Aït Ali Belkacem, a man sentenced to life in prison for a 1995 Paris train bombing that killed eight.
Boumeddiene is described as Coulibaly’s “live-in partner” of four years. The two met in 2014, shortly after Coulibaly’s release from prison, and she once told anti-terrorist police that she and Coulibaly had practiced “shooting crossbows” at the rural residence of radical Islamist Djamel Beghal.
UPDATE — 12:09 a.m. ET): Le Monde confirms that Coulibaly was the gunman, and is now dead. Boumeddiene has allegedly escaped. It is unclear whether any hostages were killed.
Watch below via CNN:
[Image via CNN/police handout]
—
