„…the moment they tried to arrest the man they spotted in the Neudorf neighborhood, he started shooting.“<\/b>
\nFrench police shot and killed Cherif Chekatt Thursday, the man responsible for the Christmas market shooting in Strasbourg. Police put out this tweet which reads \u201cEnd of the hunt.\u201d The message in red reads, \u201cThe assailant in the deadly attack in Strasbourg has been neutralized.\u201d
#Strasbourg Fin de la traque. pic.twitter.com\/58qZmhAFQI
\u2014 Police Nationale 67 (@PoliceNat67) December 13,2018
According to the Associated Press, the prosecutor in charge of the case was heading to the scene to verify the body belonged to Chekatt. There\u2019s also a brief description of how the shooting took place:
Christophe Castaner said from Strasbourg late Thursday that police spotted an individual who matched the description of 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt. He has been the focus of a massive manhunt since Tuesday\u2019s attack.
Castaner says the moment they tried to arrest the man they spotted in the Neudorf neighborhood, he started shooting. The minister says police returned fire, killing the man.
Neudorf is where the suspect last was seen after the Tuesday attack that killed three people\u2026
An unnamed official also told the AP the man police shot \u201cwas armed with a pistol and a knife.\u201d Those are the same weapons Chekatt was armed with during the attack so it\u2019s looking like they got their man.
After the attack, Chekatt hijacked a cab and was dropped off in the Neudorf area. The driver told police that Chekatt had bragged of killing 10 people (he was wrong, thankfully) and of being wounded in a shootout with police. Last night there were reports in French media that Chekatt also told the driver the attack was meant to \u201cavenge\u201d his \u201cbrothers killed in Syria.\u201d And if you\u2019re wondering why the cab driver lived, he professed to Chekatt that he was a practicing Muslim.
15. According to @leparisien, gunman allowed cab driver to live only after latter professed that he was a practicing Muslim and observed his daily prayers. French media is reporting that we haven\u2019t seen a manhunt like this since Saleh Abdeslam slipped the net during Paris attack.
\u2014 Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13,2018
ISIS had been celebrating the attack online but hadn\u2019t claimed responsibility for the attack. However, shortly after police announced Chekatt had been killed, ISIS\u2019 news agency called him a \u201csoldier.\u201d
6) BREAKING: Shortly after he was reported killed, #ISIS ‚ ‚Amaq News Agency reports Christmas market attacker Cherif Chekatt was an ISIS „soldier“ who „carried out the operation in response to call to target citizens of the international coalition.“ https:\/\/t.co\/3hazNo62sE pic.twitter.com\/7ZgeZc5UvP
\u2014 Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) December 13,2018
NY Times\u2019 Rukmini Callimachi says the language used in the claim means this was an \u201cinspired\u201d attack, not one directed by ISIS.
3. Crucially, the claim uses phrasing that indicates this was an inspired attack, rather than one directed by the group from Iraq and Syria. Gunman is said to be \u201cresponding to calls to target nationals of Coalition countries.\u201d That\u2019s verbatim language from a famous ISIS speech pic.twitter.com\/9UXVv7xI0A
\u2014 Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13,2018
So it\u2019s entirely possible Chekatt had minimal or even zero contact with ISIS, however, the group clearly believes he was responding to their call for attacks connected to the Christmas season. Callimachi points out that some of the most deadly attacks in recent years have been of this type, including the attack in Nice, France using a truck in 2016.
7. \u2026. and you\u2019ll see the enormous effort the group puts into inciting hate and violence among its followers. Some of the most deadly ISIS attacks to date (Nice, Orlando) were carried out by people who merely imbibed the group\u2019s message online.
\u2014 Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) December 13,2018<\/p>\n