French newspapers and social media have hailed a Muslim man as a hero after he saved several Jewish shoppers from the supermarket siege by terrorists in Paris.
Lassana Bathily, a 24-year-old immigrant from Mali, guided some Jewish shoppers to the stockroom's basement freezer, turned it off and hid them during the siege Friday, The Washington Post reported. He then ran outside to inform police that gunman Amedy Coulibaly was upstairs and some of the shoppers were downstairs.
Police had mistaken him for Coulibaly, but released him when they realized their error. Bathily gave the police the key they needed to open the supermarket blinds and attack Coulibaly.
Authorities did not provide details on the number of hostages who remained in the freezer at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Vincennes, according to CNN.
Police killed Coulibaly in a shootout, but not before Coulibaly had killed four Jewish hostages. Rudi Hadad, one of the hostages in the freezer, said a few others had ran upstairs after Bathily left.
Bathily has received praise from people on Facebook and other social media sites. In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also praised Bathily's actions when he visited a Paris synagogue Sunday, The Washington Post reported.
"I want to express my appreciation to the Mali citizen who helped save seven Jews," Netanyahu said at the synagogue.
An anonymous police officer said that the key Bathily gave to the police permitted them to storm the supermarket without punching through the shutters.
