Armed Robbers Flee After Holding Hostages In Paris Primark Store
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 14 July 2015 09:27
- Malaysian Digest
Armed robbers have evaded capture by French special forces after they held up to 10 people hostage in a clothing store just outside Paris on Monday morning.
As many as three gunmen held store employees hostage at the Primark store in the Qwartz shopping mall at Villeneuve-la-Garenne, about 10 kilometres north west of the French capital.
Police believed the gunmen had attempted to rob the store when they broke in about 6.30am on Monday local time as staff were arriving for work.
The alarm was raised at 7.00am by a staff member who hid in a toilet and sent her partner a text message, saying there were gunmen at the store, London's The Daily Telegraph reported. The boyfriend called the police.
A witness told Le Parisien that staff fled in panic: "Everyone was running and screaming 'They are armed, they are armed. We must get out'."
French special forces evacuated up to 18 people from the mall more than three hours after the gunmen first entered the store.
Police say they are searching for the perpetrators.
There was nothing to suggest the incident was a terrorist attack, police said.
It is unclear if the 18 people evacuated by special forces were held hostage or they hid inside the mall to escape the gunmen.
A police source told Le Figaro: "Frightened, 18 store employees have entrenched themselves in a mall canteen."
"Eighteen people have been evacuated ... one of them fell ill, but there are no injuries," a police source told local media.
Police stopped all traffic around the mall. All other shops in the area have been closed.
"Around 6.30am, two or three armed criminals went into the Primark store for what we think was initially an attempt at armed robbery," according to a police source, quoted in local media, who wished to remain anonymous.
-Reuters
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