AP Exclusive: Orly video shows attacker rushing soldier
Posted Mar 20, 2017 11:56:50 AM.
Last Updated Mar 20, 2017 01:00:26 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PARIS – Video of a suspected Islamic extremist at Paris’ Orly airport shows a soldier caught by surprise when an attacker drops a shopping bag and grabs her from behind.
The Associated Press has obtained security footage of Saturday’s attack, which caused panic and shut down the French capital’s second-biggest airport. It shows the attacker grabbing the soldier around the shoulders as her companion patrols slightly ahead. The attacker, Ziyed Ben Belgacem, was shot dead within three minutes during a standoff with the companion and another soldier.
The footage shows him trying to wrestle away the first soldier’s gun, but he was killed before he could fire the weapon.
Authorities say Belgacem, a 39-year-old Frenchman, had a long criminal record of drug and robbery offences. No one was injured at the airport.
