Paris: A mentally ill takes two women hostage in a shop

A man armed with a bladed weapon, “known for his psychiatric disorders,” took two women hostage in a shop in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, according to police sources.

Inside, he allegedly held the store manager and her 23-year-old daughter hostage, according to a source familiar with the matter. A little before 10 p.m., the madman freed one of the hostages, the manager who was unharmed. His daughter stayed with the hostage taker, having an easier time communicating with him. Negotiations by the BIS were still ongoing at midnight.

According to a police source at AFP, the madman, who presented himself under the identity of a former Tunisian magistrate, is notably known to the police services for having harassed a local doctor at his medical office.

The hostage taker who was still at midnight in the shop, located at 21 rue d’Aligre in a drugstore called Go Shop, lowered the curtain.

A 56-year-old man who introduced himself as a former Tunisian magistrate, Abderaman BJ. He was said to have been a magistrate in his country until 2011. Having entered the shop shortly before 3:30 p.m., l The man had first asked to “speak to the Minister of Justice”, Eric Dupond-Moretti and the lawyer Sylvie Noachovitch, according to the two police sources. “Following the hostage-taking in the 12th arrondissement, the minister obviously let the negotiators know that he was at their disposal,” said the entourage of the Keeper of the Seals.

The hostage taker lives in a hostel in the 11th arrondissement near Boulevard Voltaire. The Police Prefecture’s Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) was dispatched to the scene as a matter of urgency.

At the suspect’s request, Sylvie Noachovitch, Omar Raddad’s lawyer, was reportedly put in touch with the hostage taker, as revealed by BFMTV. An investigation was opened including the head of “kidnapping” and was entrusted to the police station of the 12th arrondissement, confirmed the Paris prosecutor’s office. “According to the first elements of the investigation, two people would be held against their will in a business,” added the prosecution.

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