Nov. 16 (GIN)—A Good Samaritan who died shielding a girl from a terrorist’s bullet was called a hero by witnesses and friends for his selfless bravery.
Ludovic Boumbas was dining with friends at the Paris cafe Le Belle Equipe Friday night after work. Tunisian-born Houda Saadi, the restaurant manager, was celebrating her birthday with her sister, Halima. Suddenly a gunman burst into the cafe and began firing.
Boumbas, an IT engineer born in Congo-Brazzaville, threw himself in the direction of the bullets to save Hodda. She survived a short time but later died. Ludovic, known as “Ludo,” was killed instantly, as was Halima, who was on a one-week visit to Paris before returning to Dakar, Senegal, where she lived.
Khaled Saadi, brother of Hodda and Halima, with his brother Abdallah, were working that night at the cafe. Khaled fell to the floor for safety. When he got up, the sight of the dead was shattering.
In an online video, he described the calamity. “They killed everybody. My two sisters, my friends and my sisters’ friends that were there … It lasted a minute in total, but it was very long. I left the restaurant and they were all dead or suffering.”
Abdallah Saadi said, “We are all inhabitants of this planet … we need to help each other … There were Black people, Arabic people, Jewish people there, all of us were hit. So we are all in the same boat.”
According to reports, overwhelmed medics had to abandon the most seriously injured so they could attend to those who had a chance.
Pictures of Boumbas and many other victims are posted on Twitter under the hashtag #rechercheParis. The diversity of multicultural, multi-ethnic Paris is clearly apparent in the many young faces