SWAT "forces then started to enter the apartment through the door by removing it and also by the windows where they also removed the shutters," he said. "We knew how dangerous and how threatening the killer was."
Police used video surveillance to scope out the interior of the apartment. With only the bathroom left to check, Mr. Guéant said, Mr. Merah emerged "firing with extreme violence," Mr. Guéant said.
Paris Prosecutor François Molins later told reporters, "He then jumped off the balcony, still shooting, until he was shot in the head."
The police used "legitimate defense," said Mr. Molins.
A loud volley of gunfire that lasted for five to six minutes was clearly audible in the surrounding area.
The shootout marked a dramatic end to a saga that has stunned the country and disrupted the presidential election campaign, with most candidates cancelling rallies and campaign appearances on television shows. In his first response to Mr. Merah's death, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced harder measures to crack down on terrorism, including making it a crime to consult Internet sites that advocate terrorism.
"From now on, anyone regularly consulting Internet sites that advocate terrorism, or call for hatred and violence, will be criminally punished," Mr. Sarkozy said in a televised address. He also said the government would seek to criminalize travel abroad for terrorist training. |
