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2013 Paris Attacks

• Front Matter
• Contents
• 1.        Attacks –
  • a.        BFM-TV News Station
    • On November 13, 2015 a lone gunman entered the news network station for the BFM-TV wielding a pump-action shotgun. He threatened journalists in the lobby briefly before eventually leaving the station. It was unclear whether his weapon malfunctioned or if he chose not to shoot, but he left multiple unused cartridges and told witnesses "Next time, I won't miss."
  • b.        Libération
    • Three days later on November the 16th, at 10 a.m a lone gunman entered the headquarters of the prominent daily newspaper and opened fire. A 23-year old freelance photographer was shot in the arm and chest. The gunman soon left and the photographer was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries near the heart.
  • c.        Société Générale
    • Soon after the shooting at the Libération newspaper, multiple shots were fired outside the french bank Société Générale and no one was injured.
  • d. Escape
    • After fleeing from the site of the bank shooting, the gunman acquired a vehicle by taking a man hostage in the town of Pluteaux near La Defence. The gunman forced the man to drive three and a half miles towards central Paris before letting him go at the Champs-Elysees. The gunman continued to flee but was later arrested in an underground parking complex 6 miles north of Paris in Bois-Colombes. Officials reported that he was extremely incoherent and had taken multiple prescription medications in that short period of time in an assumed suicide attempt.
• 2.        Victim –
• 3.        Suspect
  • Abdelhakim Dekhar is an Algerian national and was a known anarchist. He was involved in multiple terrorist acts leading up to his conviction for three 2013 shootings in Paris.
    • a.        Family and Early life
      • Dekhar was born in 1965 in Moselle, Iraq. It is widely believed that he was born into an extremely unstable family situation and was a troubled child. He was born the third child in a family if 11. At an early age he ran away from home, and spent a short period of his childhood in sponsored care. At 17, he joined the military and served in the 9th Parachute Regiment. His service time was cut obsessively short, and during his first trial in the 1990's he explained to the judge that his service was cut because he was recruited to work for the Algerian secret service. After his release from prison in the late 1990's for his involvement in the Rey-Maupin affair, Dekhar fell off the map for the most part. It is believed that he moved back to Algeria where his family was living, but other accounts identify him as moving to Britain and marrying twice. One of his marriages was believed to be to a 27 year old Turkish student, and at that time he was working in a restaurant.
    • b.        Radicalization
      • "When French police and media looked into his background after the Rey-Maupin shootings, they found evidence of complex fantasies that he had built. The question of Dekhar's sanity was investigated with psychologists concluding that while he did not possess a "grain of madness" he was a voluble and compulsive fantasist. According to his 1996 report, doctors concluded: "Most of his statements take the form of a logical but fantastical construct centred around one main theme in which he is a shadowy agent, tasked with a definite political mission in service of the cause of Algerian democracy." None of this was news to his former colleagues in the radical movement. As one anonymous leader told Liberation in 1996, Dekhar "behaved like a secret agent . . . who would not disclose his mobile number, supplied a false name for his girlfriend" and who came across as "a solitary but loudmouthed" figure who disdained others in the movement for their "wishy-washy" commitment to bringing about real social change." (Guardian).
    • d.        Prior terrorism
      • In 1994, a very high profile robbery and ensuing car chase occurred in Paris known as the Rey-Maupin affair. During the incident 4 people were killed. Four years later in 1998, Dekhar was linked to the robbery, convicted, and sentenced to 4 years in prison. While his connection to the incident is shrouded in some uncertainty, it is widely believed that he was the individual who supplied one of the weapons to Rey and Maupin, which is what led to his eventual conviction.
• 4.        References

Rayman, N. (2013). Suspected Paris Gunman Identified As Man Linked To Notorious 1990's Shootout. Time.Com, 1.

THOMAS ADAMSON AND JEFF, S. (n.d). Suspect in Paris newspaper shooting, other attacks arrested. Canadian Press, The,

(2013, November 22). DNA links suspect to Paris shootings. Illawarra Mercury. p. 20.

"Paris shooting suspect 'was a voluble fantasist': Dekhar supplied gun for anarchist killings in 1994 Mystery surrounds 13-year residence in Britain." The Guardian - Final Edition. (November 23, 2013 Saturday ): 883 words. LexisNexis Academic. Web. Date Accessed: 2017/05/04.

The article does a good job of walking through each attack. If you wanted to add a lead section, you could address the gunman, Abdelhakim Dekhar, and summarize his efforts at the attacks in Paris. It would also be nice to know how many were killed in these attacks as a total number as well as how many were wounded. I would be careful not to make the article a biography about him, but all the information is very good. I appreciate the way you added quotes to give more information. I was wondering if Abdelhakim Dekar identified with any group in particular. It says a bit about wanting Algerian democracy and possibly being in touch with a leader. In that regard, you write a bit more about a particular group if there is one.  I also wonder where he is now. It says he was caught and that he was heavily medicated. Is he being kept in a prison bound for life in prison or is there a trial? If he was convicted, is he being sentenced to death? I also wonder why he went after news stations and a bank. If there was anything that talked about his motive, that might be valuable information as well. Overall, I think you did a great job about telling us about the attacks that happened in Paris and who the gunman was. I liked that you included a bit on his background and radicalization. It will serve as strong additions to the article. -Rylee Pittman