French police shot and killed Cherif Chekatt Thursday, the man responsible for the Christmas market shooting in Strasbourg. Police put out this tweet which reads “End of the hunt.” The message in red reads, “The assailant in the deadly attack in Strasbourg has been neutralized.”
#Strasbourg
Fin de la traque. pic.twitter.com/58qZmhAFQI— Police Nationale 67 (@PoliceNat67) December 13, 2018
According to the Associated Press, the prosecutor in charge of the case was heading to the scene to verify the body belonged to Chekatt. There’s also a brief description of how the shooting took place:
Christophe Castaner said from Strasbourg late Thursday that police spotted an individual who matched the description of 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt. He has been the focus of a massive manhunt since Tuesday’s attack.
Castaner says the moment they tried to arrest the man they spotted in the Neudorf neighborhood, he started shooting. The minister says police returned fire, killing the man.
Neudorf is where the suspect last was seen after the Tuesday attack that killed three people…
An unnamed official also told the AP the man police shot “was armed with a pistol and a knife.” Those are the same weapons Chekatt was armed with during the attack so it’s looking like they got their man.
After the attack, Chekatt hijacked a cab and was dropped off in the Neudorf area. The driver told police that Chekatt had bragged of killing 10 people (he was wrong, thankfully) and of being wounded in a shootout with police. Last night there were reports in French media that Chekatt also told the driver the attack was meant to “avenge” his “brothers killed in Syria.” And if you’re wondering why the cab driver lived, he professed to Chekatt that he was a practicing Muslim.
15. According to @leparisien, gunman allowed cab driver to live only after latter professed that he was a practicing Muslim and observed his daily prayers. French media is reporting that we haven’t seen a manhunt like this since Saleh Abdeslam slipped the net during Paris attack.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13, 2018
ISIS had been celebrating the attack online but hadn’t claimed responsibility for the attack. However, shortly after police announced Chekatt had been killed, ISIS’ news agency called him a “soldier.”
6) BREAKING: Shortly after he was reported killed, #ISIS ' 'Amaq News Agency reports Christmas market attacker Cherif Chekatt was an ISIS "soldier" who "carried out the operation in response to call to target citizens of the international coalition." https://t.co/3hazNo62sE pic.twitter.com/7ZgeZc5UvP
— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) December 13, 2018
NY Times’ Rukmini Callimachi says the language used in the claim means this was an “inspired” attack, not one directed by ISIS.
3. Crucially, the claim uses phrasing that indicates this was an inspired attack, rather than one directed by the group from Iraq and Syria. Gunman is said to be “responding to calls to target nationals of Coalition countries.” That’s verbatim language from a famous ISIS speech pic.twitter.com/9UXVv7xI0A
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13, 2018
So it’s entirely possible Chekatt had minimal or even zero contact with ISIS, however, the group clearly believes he was responding to their call for attacks connected to the Christmas season. Callimachi points out that some of the most deadly attacks in recent years have been of this type, including the attack in Nice, France using a truck in 2016.
7. …. and you’ll see the enormous effort the group puts into inciting hate and violence among its followers. Some of the most deadly ISIS attacks to date (Nice, Orlando) were carried out by people who merely imbibed the group’s message online.
— Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13, 2018
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