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Hostage Said Attackers Forced Churchgoer To Film Murder Of French Priest Before Slashing Him Too

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 07:04 PST, Jul 27, 2016

One day after two ISIS extremists attacked a Catholic church, taking hostages before slitting the throat of an elderly priest in front of them, new details have emerged regarding the horrific attack. Reports reveal that the attackers forced hostages to take pictures and video of the murder before turning on the man they forced to do the deed.

The attackers stormed into a Catholic church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, in the northwest region of Normandy, France, during their morning mass. The attackers took hostages in the church and slit the throat of the 85-year-old priest, Rev. Jacques Hamel. Both attackers were later killed by the police outside the church as they attempted to flee. The men initially tried to use nuns as human shields in their getaway, but the police prevailed without further tragedy.

Unfortunately, one congregation member is now hospitalized with serious injuries after the attackers slashed the man in four places, his wife revealed to the media on Wednesday. The 86-year-old woman was one of the five persons held hostage on Tuesday at the Normandy church, along with her husband, two nuns, and the priest. A third nun had escaped and was able to alert authorities to the situation.

The woman stated that the attackers had given her husband, Guy, a cellphone and forced him to take pictures and video of the murdered priest’s body after he had been killed. The attackers were adamant on wanting to memorialize the brutal event.

According to the Hartford Courant, the elderly woman was only identified by her first name, Jeanine, when she relayed those particular details of the hostage situation to RMC Radio. She also said that in order to stay alive, her husband played dead after the attackers had injured him.

France is still reeling from the Bastille Day attack in Nice that killed 84 people. Tuesday’s attack on the church is another blow to the country, and the threat to France has been ranked as extremely high. With 56 remaining summer events to protect, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve stated on Wednesday that events without “optimal” security will be canceled.

The attackers at the church have been linked to the Islamic State terror group, and one of them was a 19-year-old who was already on the country’s radar. The teen was identified as Adel Kermiche, and investigators said that on two occasions last year, he tried to travel to Syria using other family members’ identity documents. Kermiche was detained outside of France on the last occasion, sent back home, and brought up with preliminary terrorism charges. A tracking bracelet was ordered to be attached to him.

As part of his bail conditions, though, he was allowed to turn off the bracelet every morning for four hours. According to investigators, that period perfectly matched the time of the attack on the church and the killing of the priest. During the attack, the two men used knives and fake explosives, and prosecutor Francois Molins said that one of them even wore a phony suicide belt that was covered in tin foil.

In Fox News’ coverage of the horrific attack, they also gave Jeanine’s account of when she was a hostage in the church and forced to watch the priest’s death at the mercy of a weapon that she is now not sure was real or fake.

“[The priest] fell down looking upwards, toward us. The terrorists held me with a revolver at my neck.”

The identity of the second attacker has not been released to the public.

Religious leaders in France have sent a message of solidarity to the people after meeting with French President Francois Hollande, urging that now is the time to unite as people despite religious differences.

[Photo by Francois Mori/AP Images]

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