PARIS (AP) — A national memorial event for a police officer who lost his life after swapping himself with a hostage being held by an Islamic extremist will take place Wednesday in Paris, the French presidency said Monday.
The ceremony, open to the public, will be held in the main courtyard of the Invalides monument, home to Napoleon’s tomb, in the presence of Lt-Col. Arnaud Beltrame’s family and the families of other victims of the attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron will attend and address the event.
Three people, including Beltrame, were killed in a supermarket in Trebes, southern France, Friday, while a fourth person was killed earlier during a carjacking in the nearby city of Carcassonne.
Moroccan-born gunman Radouane Lakdim, 25, was killed by police who stormed the supermarket.
Two people close to him, including his partner, were being detained Monday for questioning in the case.
A French judicial official said the 18-year-old woman was known to police as radicalized. Like Lakdim, she had been on the so-called “Fiche S” list, a government register of individuals suspected of being radicalized but who have yet to perform acts of terrorism.
The official was speaking anonymously to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The other person in police custody is a 17-year-old friend of Lakdim.
French police searching Lakdim’s home in Carcassonne found notes referring to the Islamic State group that appeared to be a final testament.
IS claimed that the attacker was answering its call to target nations in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS militants in Syria and Iraq.
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