Witnesses have described the moment a popular Parisian bar was targeted by gun-wielding terrorists.
Regulars at Le Carillon in the east of the French capital today laid flowers and lit candles at the front of the venue, which bore the full extent of one of last night’s terror attacks.
Bullet holes peppered the thick glass windows, while urgent attempts to cover up the blood-soaked streets outside had limited success.
Many locals in the vibrant neighbourhood paused for a few moments at a makeshift shrine outside Le Carillon, while others said prayers or simply placed their hands against the exterior walls in solemn contemplation.
Etienne Athea, 34, said he heard the moment the terrorists opened fire on the unassuming customers.
The photographer said: “I live on this street and yesterday I listened to the people with the guns. I don’t understand what happened.
“It was like a movie, I thought it was my TV, I didn’t know what was happening. I saw the emergency people, we have a hospital here. I saw the bodies. I am scared.
“It is very important for me to come here. I wanted to say goodbye. I wanted to say I am with you, I will never forget.
“I am very spiritual so it was important for me to come today.
“Sometimes I drink my Coca-cola here, now I don’t know if I can go inthe bar for a drink because I know people can kill me.
“We are in France, we are in Europe, it is not normal to think that you can’t go for a drink with your friends because, ’people will kill me’.”
Another neighbour and regular Le Carillon customer, 30-year-old Alexandra Damien, said she only found out about the massacre when she looked at her phone at 3am to see 60 missed calls from family and friends.
The communications director said: “I didn’t know what was going on, so I called my mum. She has just come out of hospital.
“She thought I had been in Le Carillon but I was at my friend’s, so she said ’thank God’.
“I had my best friend phoning up the hospitals in Paris asking if they had my body there.
“This is horrible. It is touching a neighbourhood. We’re like a small village. It’s a small place, we don’t need to go out of our area because we have everything.
“We come every day to this bar because it is friendly, it is simple. We have the same people who come and know the staff.
“Coming here is normal for us so we have no idea why they (terrorists) were touching this kind of place.
“People told me they were coming in with shotguns. We have two friends who died. I just fell down.
“Two people who I know really well died.”
She said somebody told her they saw victims being taken away from the scene with limbs missing, while others died in front of them.
“People will help each other and come back, but it is really hard because it is like a scar you have on your body,” she said.
“It’s an area where people help each other, but it is something we will never forget.
“After what happened in January with Charlie Hebdo, it was like going over it all again.
“I wanted to come today to say goodbye to my friends because the next time I am with them will be at their funerals.”
