Counterterrorism officials have confirmed that the youngest of three identified suspects turned himself into the authorities late on Wednesday night for the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris. 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, who surrendered, had previously been identified as one of the suspects in the killing of 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The other two suspects, 34-year-old Said Kouachi and 32-year-old Cherif Kouachi, remain at large. The youngest of the Kouachi brothers, Cherif, is a figure already well-known to the French police for his involvement in terrorist organizations. Mr. Mourad, who gave himself up, has the same surname as the wife of the younger of the two brothers. It is still unknown if he had been driving the black Citroen used for the getaway.
Both the Kouachi brothers are believed to be heavily armed and exceptionally dangerous, said a police source when speaking to Le Monde.
French President Francois Hollande told French TV that the attacks were an act of “exceptional barbarism” and Thursday is a day of mourning in France as a result of the killings.
Peaceful demonstrations were held on Wednesday evening to pay homage to those murdered in the killing spree. 15,000 people gathered in Paris, 10,000 in Lyon, 10,000 in Toulouse and 5,000 in Bordeaux in order to call out “Je suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”).
The dead, according to Le Monde:
– Jean Cabut, (aka Cabu), cartoonist
– Georges Wolinski, cartoonist
– Stéphane Charbonnier, (aka Charb), cartoonist
– Bernard Verlhac (akaTignous), cartoonist
– Philippe Honoré (aka Honoré), cartoonist
– Bernard Maris, journalist and economist
– Mustapha Ourrad, proofreader
– Elsa Cayat, journalist and psychologist
– Frédéric Boisseau, doorman
– Ahmed Meradet, policeman
– Franck Brinsolaro, policeman
– Michel Renaud, visitor and former municipality authority
A press report in Liberation that the three perpetrators had been captured remained unconfirmed as did an NBC report that two of the suspects had been captured and one dead.
The identification of the three suspects came after they left an ID behind in an abandoned car.
A CNN report states that the perpetrators asked for the name of each person they killed before executing them. Dr. Gerald Kierzek states that the terrorists separated the men from the women before beginning to shoot.
News of the killing alerted other EU countries on the dangers of jihadists in their own terrorists with urgent meetings held by anti-terrorist committees in Italy, Belgium, Spain and the U.K. with the governments of Rome and Madrid increasing the warnings for possible terrorist attacks in their own countries.
