Employee hailed as hero at Paris supermarket siege

Ryan Macasero

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Employee hailed as hero at Paris supermarket siege
The hostages – many of whom were Jewish customers of the store – hid in the cold storage for several hours and were saved, thanks to a quick-thinking Muslim immigrant working at the store

CALIFORNIA, USA – By now, the world knows the story of the mass killings at Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket at the hands of two armed terrorists. The hero of the story at the kosher supermarket is a 24-year-old Muslim immigrant originally from Mali in west Africa named Lassana Bathily

“I went down to the freezer, I opened the door, there were several people who went in with me. I turned off the light and the freezer,” Bathily told a French TV station. 

“I brought them inside and I told them to stay calm here, I’m going to go out. When they got out, they thanked me.” The hostages – many of whom were Jewish customers of the store – hid for nearly 5 hours.

Bathily’s quick thinking saved several people – no exact number of how many people were hiding in the cold storage room has been reported. The gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed 4 people that day, but more people would have died if it weren’t for Bathily and other quick-thinking supermarket customers. (READ: Paris hostages survived hidden in fridges, under sinks

Coulibaly told police that day he would kill hostages if police stormed the printing shop where Cherif and Said Kouchi, suspects in the Charlie Hebdo massacre, were hiding. 

Several reports said Bathily was able to get out of the store to the police where he was able to provide information to law enforcement to end the siege. However, police initially thought that he was a suspect. “They told me to get down on the ground and put my hands over my head,” he told a TV news station. “They cuffed me and held me for an hour and a half as if I was with the gunman.” 

Coulibaly was killed when police stormed the grocery store, ending the standoff.

Netizens soon took to Twitter and are hailing Bathily as a hero using #UneMedaillePourLassana (French for “a medal for Lassana”) 





“We are brothers. It’s not a question of Jews, Christians or Muslims,” Lassana said in French during a TV interview on January 10. “We are all in the same boat, we must help each other to get out of this crisis.” – Rappler.com 

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka

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Ryan Macasero

Ryan covers social welfare for Rappler. He started at Rappler as social media producer in 2013, and later took on various roles for the company: editor for the #BalikBayan section, correspondent in Cebu, and general assignments reporter in the Visayas region. He graduated from California State University, East Bay, with a degree in international studies and a minor in political science. Outside of work, Ryan performs spoken word poetry and loves attending local music gigs. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmacasero or drop him leads for stories at ryan.macasero@rappler.com