Paris Terrorist Attacks Hit Bataclan Theater, Staggering Death Toll At Eagles Of Death Metal Concert
A horrifying wave of events erupted throughout France’s capital city on Friday evening (November 13), involving several strategically planned terrorist attacks on what is reported as at least seven different locations, including sports venue Stade de France, where French President Francois Hollande had been attending a football match between France and Germany, and the 150-year-old theater Bataclan, where a deadly hostage siege left 80 attendees of an Eagles Of Death Metal concert dead. A total of 129 dead across Paris was reported by authorities on Saturday (November 14) morning.
Paris police and military stormed the Bataclan, freeing at least 100 hostages and taking out the four armed hostage-takers, but not before at least 80 people were killed. NPR described the situation inside the theater on air as “a horror show,” while radio reporter Julien Pearce told CNN‘s Wolf Blitzer that the scene at the Bataclan was “a bloodbath.”
On Friday evening, Palm Desert, California band Eagles Of Death Metal posted the following on Facebook: “We are still currently trying to determine the safety and whereabouts of all our band and crew. Our thoughts are with all of the people involved in this tragic situation.”
NBC reports that Emily Hall Dorio, the wife of the band’s drummer, Julian Dorio, was told by her husband that everyone on stage managed to get out and that he and other Eagles Of Death Metal members made it to a police station. She believed that the whereabouts of some members of the band’s crew were unknown.
“I’m grateful and heartbroken at the same time,” Emily Hall Dorio said. “I’m grateful he’s alive.”
Julien Pearce told Wolf Blitzer that he saw two people in black clothing he called terrorists enter the theater, “very calm, very determined” and firing “randomly.” Pearce claims he saw the face of one shooter, who was “a maximum of 25 years old.”
“He was like a random guy holding a Kalashnikov [rifle],” Pearce said. “That’s all.”
The grim attacks on Friday were a reminder of the tragic year the city of Paris has endured, following Islamist gunmen murdering 12 and wounding 11 at the city’s headquarters of the publication Charlie Hebdo on January 7, and the slaying of four Jewish hostages by Islamic extremist Amedy Coulibaly at a Hypercacher supermarket in Porte de Vincennes just two days later.
During a short speech on Friday evening, President Barack Obama stated, “This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”
Note: Details of the events of this evening in Paris are still coming in, and updates will be reflected.
