Charlie Hebdo Paris shooting: Man linked to attacks turns himself in
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said the man surrendered voluntarily.
The 18-year-old suspect turned himself in at a police station in Charleville-Mézières, in northeastern France at around 7 p.m. ET, according to a report in Reuters.
Early Thursday, French police released images of the two other suspects, named as Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi, saying they should be considered armed and dangerous. Said Kouachi was born in 1980, two years older than his brother.
Police had said they were hunting for three heavily armed men in the military-style, methodical killing of 12 people Wednesday at the office of the satirical newspaper which had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.
Earlier reports identified the third suspect as Hamyd Mourad.
President François Hollande, visiting the scene of France's deadliest such attack in more than half a century, called the assault on the weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo "an act of exceptional barbarism." Two undated handout pictures released by French Police in Paris show Cherif Kouachi, left, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34, suspected in connection with the shooting attack at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo headquarters. (French Police/EPA)
France raised its terror alert system to the maximum — Attack Alert — and bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas. Fears had been running high in France and elsewhere in Europe that jihadis returning from conflicts in Syria and Iraq would stage attacks at home.
Heavily armed police moved into the city of Reims, in France's Champagne country east of Paris, apparently searching for the suspects. Video from BFM TV showed police dressed in white apparently taking samples inside an apartment. It was not immediately clear who lived there.
One of the police officials said they were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network, and Cedric Le Bechec, a witness who encountered the escaping gunmen, quoted the attackers as saying: "You can tell the media that it's al-Qaeda in Yemen."
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive and ongoing investigation.Previous terrorism charges
Cherif Kouachi was sentenced to 18 months in prison after being convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for helping funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency. He said he was outraged at the torture of Iraqi inmates at the U.S. prison at Abu Ghraib near Baghdad.
The masked, black-clad men with assault rifles stormed the offices near Paris's Bastille monument in the Wednesday noontime attack on the publication, which had long drawn condemnation and threats — it was firebombed in 2011 — for its depictions of Islam, although it also satirized other religions and political figures.
Shouting "Allahu akbar!" as they fired, the men used fluent, unaccented French as they called out the names of specific employees.
- People take part in a rally in support of the victims during a gathering at the Place de la Republique after the terrorist attack on Wednesday in Paris. (Theirry Chesnot/Getty Images)
- People gather around candles and pens at the Place de la Republique after gunmen opened fire at the offices of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo. (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)
- This photo provided by The Paris Police Prefectureon Thursday shows the suspects Cherif Kouachi, left, and his brother Said. (Prefecture de Police de Paris/The Associated Press)
- At a vigil at Trafalgar Square in London, a woman holds a placard that reads, 'I am Charlie,' during a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of a shooting at the offices of weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Jan. 7, 2015. (Stefan Wermuth/Reuters)
- A bouquet of roses sits next to a placard that reads, 'I am Charlie,' in a tribute to the many people killed when masked gunmen stormed the offices of the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)
- A drawing depicting cartoonist Jean Cabut, left, Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier, centre, and cartoonist Georges Wolinski, all three killed when masked gunmen stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices. (Michael Sohn/Associated Press)
- Demonstrators gather at the Place de la République in Paris to honour the victims of the shooting. (Christophe Ena/Associated Press)
- Roses were placed in front of the French Embassy in Berlin as a tribute to the victims of the Paris shootings. (Bernd Von Jutrczenka/EPA)
- Flowers and signs were also placed in front of the French embassy in Ottawa. (Laura Payton/CBC)
- French police remove the bodies of victims from Charlie Hebdo's headquarters. The weekly newspaper is renowned for lampooning radical Islam. (Etienne Laurent/EPA)
- French flag are lowered to half-mast in front of the French Parliament following the worst militant attack on French soil in recent decades. (Yoan Valat/EPA)
- French President François Hollande headed to the scene after the attack, and the government said it was raising France's security level to the highest notch. (Etienne Laurent/EPA)
- Police and a witness said masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the French satirical newspaper, killing several people and injured others before escaping. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)
- A simple bullet hole in a window at the scene of the attack doesn't begin to reflect the deadly impact of the shootings. (Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)
- Firefighters use a stretcher to carry one of the many victims of three shooters. (Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)
- A person injured in the deadly shootings is treated by nursing staff outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo. (Thibault Camus/Associated Press)
- French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, centre, arrives at the scene of the attack. (Ian Langsdon/EPA)
- Police block the roads next to the Charlie Hebdo headquarters after the attack. (Etienne Laurent/EPA)
- Grief-stricken individuals hug each other outside the newspaper following the deadly attack. (Remy de la Mauviniere/Associated Press)
- A member of the media holds up the front page of Charlie Hebdo, which shows a caricature of French author Michel Houellebecq, outside the newspaper's office following the shootings. President François Hollande called the incident a terrorist attack. (Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)
- A resident holds a placard that reads 'I am Charlie,' on a balcony near the scene. (Charles Platiau/Reuters)
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