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BREAKING NEWS (December 11th, 2018) - Shooting in Christmas Market, Strasbourg, France

From Le Monde, translated in English:
Cherif Chekatt, the author of the attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg, which killed at least three people and wounded thirteen others, including five seriously, was finally killed on Thursday evening, December 13, after forty-eight hours of hunt. The epilogue of deep uncertainty for the security services, while the man had volatilized, armed, and that he was strongly suspected of being in the perimeter where it was found: the popular district of Neudorf. Shortly after the announcement of his death on Thursday night, his attack was claimed by the Islamic State (IS).

It was shortly before 9 pm that everything happened, at 74, rue du Lazaret, close to the stadium of Meinau and a logistics warehouse area near a freight station of the SNCF. A specialized field brigade (BST), a local police patrol, then makes its round when it sees a man walk around wrapped in a black jacket with a fur hood. A look that corresponds to the description of Cherif Chekatt. Intrigued, the police officers try to stop him. But the man takes refuge under a porch. And, as they approach by car, he suddenly turns back to shoot. The police fires back and inflicts lethal wounds.

Since the beginning of the hunt, the district of Neudorf was one of the areas of research particularly targeted by the investigators. It is indeed there that the taxi driver who transported the suspect after the attack, Tuesday evening, had left him. It is also in this district composed mainly of town houses, sometimes surrounded by gardens, that one of the brothers of Cherif Chekatt was domiciled. "Many elements brought us back to this neighborhood," confirms a source close to the file.

From the beginning of the investigations, the 280 or so judicial police investigators mobilized on this file had the strong intuition that, given his unstable multi-offender profile, often condemned, Cherif Chekatt did not have the profile, the financial means or logistics of a high-level banditry. It was therefore very likely that he remained in an area familiar to him, like a Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the commando of November 13, 2015, who had holed up in his native fiefdom of Molenbeek, Belgium.

On December 12, according to our information, a report has a long time diverted the eyes of investigators to Germany. According to this testimony, Cherif Chekatt was seen limping in a streetcar heading for Germany. The exploitation of videoprotection was uncertain. It is for this reason that border controls have been reinstated as part of Vigipirate's level of vigilance. But the classic work of environment, listening and searches at various addresses in Strasbourg and Paris - including one of the suspect's sisters who was quickly left as unrelated to the affair - quickly returned to the Neudorf.

The broadcast of a call for witnesses by the national police on Wednesday has added to the pressure on the killer in the Strasbourg market. A total of 795 calls were identified by the police at the number indicated. Among them, two made the difference, according to our information. A first, in the day of Thursday, which reported the presence of a suspect man in Neudorf. Then that of a woman the same day, who said he had crossed a wounded person in the arm. That's exactly the case of Cherif Chekatt, hit by a shot from Operation Sentinelle when he fled on December 11th.

Technical "devices" had already been installed in Neudorf. But these reports led to further tightening the vice. Thursday afternoon, an important police setup was thus deployed, with the support of the Raid and a helicopter equipped with thermal cameras. But, for lack of results, the security cordon cordoning off the neighborhood was released at the end of the day. "However, we kept the belief that Cherif Chekatt was there," said a member of the hunt. The whole setup had not been repacked and new operations had to take place at night. The luck of the BST and the formal identification of Cherif Chekatt's body around 11 pm ended the uncertainty.

His death however does not put an end to the investigations, even if until now the investigators privilege the hypothesis of a radicalized offender who breaks down after an operation against his team. On the morning of 11 December, Cherif Chekatt should have been arrested along with several alleged accomplices in a case of attempted murder on extortion grounds. But he was not present at his home.

The Anti-Terrorism Sub-Directorate of the Judicial Police (SDAT), the Inter-Regional Directorate of the Judicial Police of Strasbourg, and the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI), on this case, do not exclude, at this stage, that Cherif Chekatt was able to benefit from complicities before or after his action. "We close the doors one by one," confirms a source close to the file. Seven people, including four members of his family - his parents and two of his brothers - were still in custody on Friday morning, said at a press conference, Rémy Heitz, prosecutor of the Republic of Paris.

A part of the investigations is also currently taking place in Algeria. Another brother of Cherif Chekatt, Sami, considered very radicalized, is targeted by a search warrant. According to the testimony of his father, he moved there in the fall to renovate a house. Could he have known about his little brother's fancy? Questions also remain about the weapon with which Cherif Chekatt has taken action. Did he have him on the day before the attack? Or did he recover it shortly before, and from whom? Beside his body, the investigators found an old revolver dating from the end of the 19th century, loaded with six ammunition of 8 mm of which five were struck. In his pocket, they also discovered eight other ammunition of the same caliber and a knife.

Thursday evening, the Minister of the Interior was on the spot, in Strasbourg, to congratulate the police force. "I think of the victims, the wounded, the families, I think of France bruised, I am proud of them," he said. As soon as the denouement announced, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, for his part thanked by Tweet "all services mobilized, police, gendarmes and law enforcement," while recalling that "the commitment against the terrorism is total.

The claim of the attack of Strasbourg by IS still raised questions, Friday morning, and appeared more like a recovery of opportunity, as has happened regularly lately. The statement of the agency Amaq, the propaganda media of the terrorist organization, "does not mention any kunya" (name of war), pointed out, cautious, a source close to the file.
Source: https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...resserre-sur-cherif-chekatt_5397355_3224.html
 
I half expected this to end with Strasbourg becoming German again. Barely dodged that one.

Levity aside, condolences to the families.
 
The thing to remember about lone wolves is that there's no such thing. Even the term was coined by white supremecists in the US as an actual strategy to insulate their leadership from legal backlash for violence committed by the followers. They aren't given orders, but they are radicalized by someone for some purpose.
Wait so was Elliot Rodgers radicalized by the chads and Staceys or somthing?
 
Wait so was Elliot Rodgers radicalized by the chads and Staceys or somthing?
Technically he's the start of a movement rather than a follower. "Incel" was coined to describe him and adopted by others after. Someone always has to be the first. (Although he was also racist as fuck and hated himself for being mixed, so there may have been something to that as well)

That doesn't apply with rascism, antisemitism, and all the other pre-existing ideologies, and after him, doesn't apply to incels anymore, since they formed a community based on his manifesto. Even the Unabomber was essentially a luddite.
 
Heh, talk about morbid irony. One of the four fatalities? An Afghan refugee. *sighs*

Seems that, like for CH and Nice, the French Muslim community actually gets disproportionately high number of victims compared to its actual part in the population.
 
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Heh, talk about morbid irony. One of the four fatalities? An Afghan refugee. *sighs*

Trust me, as someone whose country has had terrorists attacks in the past, they aren't always the smartest members of the bunch :(

But regardless, condolences to the families, none of them deserve this.

Seems that, like for CH and Nice, the French Muslim community actually gets disproportionately high number of communities compared to its actual part in the population.

You mean crimes right?
 
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