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Paris man livetweets raid, civilian rescue from Bataclan terrorist attack

Andrew Smith provided a remarkable play-by-play of the siege and rescue effort.

 

Kevin Collier

Tech

Posted on Nov 13, 2015   Updated on May 27, 2021, 3:52 pm CDT

As terrorists armed with guns and explosives attacked seven different locales around Paris Friday, one place seemed to cause even more confusion than the rest: the Bataclan theater, where a concert was scheduled.

It ended up worse than many feared: By the time the horror was over, French authorities had killed three attackers who they said in turn had killed at least 87 people in the venue alone.

Andrew Smith, who, according to his blog is a U.K.-based business and management lecturer, tweeted that his Paris apartment was just around the block from Bataclan, and was able to provide a remarkable play-by-play of the siege and rescue effort. He wasn’t able to directly see the venue, but could see those coming in and out, and hear the noise outside. (It’s worth noting that Smith didn’t reply to the Daily Dot’s follow-up questions, but tweeted that he was going to bed soon after we reached out.)

Update 4:50pm CT, Nov. 17: The official number of people killed at Bataclan fell from early estimates of 118 immediately following the attack to 87. The total number of casualties from Friday night’s attacks in Paris is 129.

Photo via faungg’s photos/Flickr (CC BY ND 2.0)

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*First Published: Nov 13, 2015, 10:26 pm CST