Pictured: Hero French police officer's emotional partner who married him in hospital just hours before he died after being gunned down by ISIS terrorist
- Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was barely breathing during ceremony
- His partner, Marielle, was in floods of tears before he succumbed to his wounds
- 'He held his hands in the air, and suggested he would be a better hostage than a civilian,' said an investigating source
Marielle (pictured) was in floods of tears before the decorated officer succumbed to his wounds
The 'national hero' French gendarme gunned down by an Islamic State terrorist was married by a Catholic priest in the hours leading up to his death yesterday.
Lieutenant
Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, 44, was barely breathing as the hugely moving
ceremony was performed in a hospital in Carcassonne, south-west France.
His partner, Marielle, was in floods of tears as they said prayers before the decorated officer succumbed to his wounds.
Beltrame
was part of the police team that raced to the supermarket in Trébes
where terrorist Redouane Lakdim had taken hostages. He walked inside in
an effort to free a woman who was being held as a human shield.
'He held his hands in the air, and suggested he would be a better hostage than a civilian,' said an investigating source.
'An
element of trust was built up, and the officer managed to place his
phone on a table while it was still connected to his colleagues outside.
As the woman was released, shooting was heard, and that's when a
specialist team went in to kill the terrorist.'
In the meantime Lieut Col Beltrame
had been shot at least four times with a 7.65mm firearm and stabbed
repeatedly around the top half of his body, including his head.
French-Moroccan Lakdim, 26, had already killed three other people while
screaming his support for IS before he attacked Lieut Col Beltrame.
Yesterday's
marriage service was held close to where Lieut Col Beltrame had helped
to end Friday's rampage. He had already undergone a civil marriage
service with Marielle, a vet at the Sigean African animal reserve, near
Narbonne, last year.
The couple had
been planning a church wedding in June with family and friends, after
meeting in 2016 during a guided tour of an abbey in France.
Arnaud Beltrame (pictured) was
seriously wounded after agreeing to take the place of a female hostage
during a terrifying stand-off in Trebes, France. He married his partner
in a moving ceremony in hospital hours before passing away
Forty-five-year-old Beltrame (pictured) was knighted the Legion of Honor in May 2012
Benedictine
monk Father Jean-Baptiste yesterday described how the couple had
already 'spent some 30 hours preparing for their marriage ceremony' in
the summer.
Father Jean-Baptise said he
had 'prayed that the marriage would take place', and he performed it
just before reading out the last rites to Lieut Col Beltrame.
'I
gave him the sacrament of marriage, and the sacrament of the sick,' he
said, adding that the policeman was 'an extremely intelligent and
courageous man' who had 'found his faith'. Prime Minister Theresa May
said: 'I am saddened to learn that Lieut Col Arnaud Beltrame, the
gendarme who took the place of a hostage in the attack at Trèbes, has
died. His sacrifice and courage will never be forgotten.'
Lieut Col Beltrame's brother, Cedric, said his actions were 'beyond the call of duty'.
He
added: 'He gave his life for strangers. He must have known that he
didn't really have a chance. If that doesn't make him a hero, I don't
know what would.'
Armed officers stand guard outside the Gendarmerie Nationale in Carcassonne, where flowera have been laid in commemoration of Beltrame and his courageous sacrifice
People laid flowers in front of the Gendarmerie Nationale in Carcassonne in tribute to Beltrame
Beltrame's mother, who has not been named, said: 'He's someone who ever since he was born did everything for his country. He would tell me, 'Mum, I do my job. That's all.' '
French Interior
Minister Gérard Collomb said Lieut Col Beltrame 'fell as a national
hero' and 'died for his country'. French President Emmanuel Macron
added: 'He saved lives and honoured his colleagues and his country.'
Beltrame (pictured) was a qualified parachutist who served in Iraq in 2005
Surgeons worked all night to try to save Lieut Col Beltrame, but his death was announced early on Saturday morning.
The
manageress of Super-U, Samia Menassi, stayed with gendarmes outside the
supermarket throughout the hostage ordeal to help them with the layout
of the shop and possible whereabouts of the gunman. Ms Menassi told a
friend: 'The police were incredibly brave. Without their courage and
speed, it would have been carnage.'
It
has since emerged that the terrorist was known to the French security
services as a potential Islamist radical, but he had not been placed
under surveillance.
He lived with his
parents on a council estate in Carcassonne, and before carrying out the
killings took one of his younger sisters to school.
Lakdim
began his rampage by holding up a car in Carcassonne, 60 miles south of
Toulouse, killing a passenger with a bullet to the head and then
wounding the driver.
He then fired six
times at four off-duty riot police officers who were returning to their
base after a run. One officer was wounded in the shoulder. Lakdim then
drove nine miles to Trèbes, where he stormed Super-U screaming 'Allahu
Akbar [Arabic for 'God is the Greatest'], I'll kill you all'.
Among those murdered in the supermarket was a butcher, while dozens of others were wounded.
Mr Collomb described Lakdim as a 'radicalised petty criminal and small-time drug dealer'.
France was in mourning on Saturday and flowers were laid at the Gendarmerie Nationale in Carcassonne in tribute to the officer
During
the siege, Lakdim called for the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only
surviving member of the terrorist cell that carried out the November
2015 attacks on Paris, in which 130 people were murdered.
Abdeslam,
28, who is also from a French-Moroccan background, is currently
awaiting trial in solitary confinement in a high-security prison near
Paris.
IS described Lakdim as one of
their 'soldiers', saying he was responding to the group's calls to
target countries in the coalition carrying out air strikes against the
so-called IS caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
France has been hit by a string of jihadist attacks since 2015 and remains on a high state of alert.
Trèbes is in an area popular with British second-home-owners and holidaymakers.
Outstanding young man.....above and beyond the call.
How could he consent to a marriage when he was barely breathing?
A true hero
A true hero
Marielle be proud always of your heroic man. He will remain a legend to decent people all over the world. RIP brave man
He was and is a true hero no other word for him Rest in peace
Your wording of this article is a disgrace. Who wouldn't be emotional.
That is a brave man. I hope is family get all the support they need. God bless.
The word hero is used too often nowadays but in this case justified. A true hero.
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