"Let her go and take me in her place"

"Shut up, I'm negotiating." This is one of the sentences that can be read in the investigation file of the Trèbes attack, as reported Le Monde. And it is Colonel Arnaud Beltrame who pronounces it. This briefing details details the conditions in which the colonel intervened on March 23, at the Super U de Trèbes, while the terrorist Radouane Ladkim held a hostage, after killing four people – two in Carcbadonne, two in the supermarket.

See also – Attack of Trèbes: the cold account of the head-to-head between Julie, the hostage of the Super U, and the terrorist

Very quickly, Colonel Beltrame joins the column that enters the supermarket

On this day, the alert is given around 10:40. Quickly, soldiers of the gendarmerie surveillance and intervention platoon (PSIG) of Carcbadonne, arrive on the scene, and take position in the video surveillance room, located on the first floor of the supermarket. "At that time, we did not know that [Radouane Ladkim] held a hostage," admits the Brigadier Chief Mathieu T., on report, according to statements reported by Le Monde . Major Thierry G., commander of the PSIG, constitutes a column of intervention of four gendarmes.

Read also – Arnaud Beltrame, the last revelations about the death of the hero

Around 11:20, the column borrows the stairs leading to the supermarket. "Before crossing the door that separated us from the boxes, I felt the presence behind my back of someone who joined us, it is Colonel Beltrame," says Mathieu T. And he continues: "Colonel Beltrame has wanted to pbad me in the column, but not being equipped with a heavy bulletproof vest and as the instructions, I asked him to stay behind me, which he did at first . "

Colonel Beltrame tells the other soldiers to leave and advance towards the terrorist

The column sees Radouane Ladkim, and progresses on supermarket shelves. The commander of the PSIG reports that he then asked Arnaud Beltrame to remain under cover, "behind the shelves". But the terrorist, who has a hostage, Julie L., hostess at the Super U, sees the gendarmes. The tension rises, the man becomes angry

A non-commissioned officer tries to converse with the terrorist. "I entered a phase of negotiation by saying to him: 'Release the hostage and we will find a solution', explained Arnaud C. during his hearing, reports Le Monde. And to continue: "I was in a tunnel, eyes in the eye with the terrorist, when suddenly I saw Colonel Beltrame in front of my weapon, he said to me: 'Do not you, it's me who negotiates.But the supermarket. '"

"

No, colonel, back away!

"

An attitude that does not fit with the usual procedure in this genre situation, which the colonel knows yet. The commander of the PSIG tells that he has again asked Colonel Beltrame to stay behind. But the latter "stands up" and advances to the terrorist "raising his hands in the air". "No, colonel, go back!" Exclaims the PSIG commander. But Arnaud Beltrame advances resolutely towards Radouane Ladkim, and throws to him: "Let it go and take me in his place."

It is at this moment that the terrorist asks to the colonel Beltrame to deposit his weapon on the ground and then give it to him. Arnaud Beltrame runs. Here he is disarmed in front of the terrorist. Colonel Beltrame asked the other soldiers to leave the area, then went with Radouane Ladkim and Julie L. to the vault. The young woman is released

The face-to-face between Beltrame and Ladkim

Arnaud Beltrame and the terroristen who holds two weapons, find themselves alone. After "a little time", the PSIG commander receives "a call from Arnaud Beltrame's mobile phone". "Get out of the store, it's an order, otherwise he threatens to shoot grenades," says the soldier.

"

You know where I come from, ok very well, it's going very well

"

At 14:13, while the onslaught of the GIGN is imminent, the negotiator manages to call Arnaud Beltrame. Here is the exchange, as reported by Le Monde and Le Parisien: "I am Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame, I am the hostage." "Hello Arnaud, I introduce myself I am Bertrand, negotiator of the GIGN." (…) "You know who i am?" "Yes, I know who you are." "You know where I'm from, okay fine, it's going very well." "Is it going very well for you?" "Yes."

The negotiator then tries an approach with Radouane Ladkim. It is then that the terrorist asks him to exchange Arnaud Beltrame against Salah Abdeslam, the only terrorist still alive of the attacks of 13-November. "Radouane, you know very well that it does not happen like that," says the negotiator GIGN. The terrorist replies, "You have to move up there, we're here for death […] as martyrs."

The negotiator tries another strategy, and talks to the terrorist of his mother, who is on the scene. "I'm just asking you once again to remember that your mom is out and sad about this situation." "My mother is not like me, she is like you […] I gave her the message, she does not want to understand, and ben everyone his grave," says the terrorist, according to statements reported by Le Parisien.

Suddenly, the situation degenerates

It is then that the intervention group hears these three words, pronounced by Arnaud Beltrame: "Attack … Assault, badault." On the recording, one hears noises of struggle and rattles. The negotiator does not know what is happening, he questions successively Arnaud Beltrame and Radouane Ladkim. "Arnaud, it's you, it's you who make these noises, you're hurt," he asks. "If you're hurt Arnaud, growl a blow … Is it Radouane all this noise?" He insists several times but the questions remain unanswered. Then shots burst.

The minutes of the soundtrack do not allow to know how much time lasted this scene, between the end of the conversation, the noises, the shots then the intervention of the GIGN. The report of GIGN evokes a "hubbub for thirty seconds" before the first detonations. But several sources, cited in particular by Le Parisien estimate at ten minutes the delay between the last words of Arnaud Beltrame and the badault given by the GIGN.

When they burst into the vault, the men of the GIGN discover Arnaud Beltrame, wounded, lying on the ground. They shoot the terrorist. Injured by three blows to the arm, foot and hand, and several knocks in the throat, Colonel Beltrame died a few hours later at the hospital.