Frédéric Boisseau is the first victim of the Kouachi brothers -

THOMAS COEX / AFP

  • Fourteen people have been on trial since September 2 in the context of the January 2015 terrorist attacks. Three of them are nevertheless still at large.

  • Franck Boisseau, employee of Sodexo, is the first victim of the Kouachi brothers.

    They shot him dead while he was looking for the Charlie Hebdo premises.

  • The special assize court looks at the murderous journey of the Kouachi brothers all week long.

“All of a sudden, the door opened.

And the horror arose, without warning, on January 7, 2015, around 11:30 am.

That day, the maintenance team headed by Frédéric Boisseau came to do some scouting in a new building assigned to them, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

Look for the key box, the maintenance room, redo badges… The routine until this door which opens suddenly.

"We just had time to raise our heads with Frédo and there, a guy came in, shouted" Charlie "and fired a single shot," remembers Jérémy, in front of the specially composed assize court which has been judging since Wednesday last of the eleven accused of the January 2015 attacks.

Straightforward, hands firmly attached to the bar, the maintenance agent recounts this disastrous face-to-face with the Kouachi brothers who are seeking entry to the Charlie Hebdo editorial staff.

The heady smell of gunpowder, his reflex to put his hands above his head "even if it wouldn't have served much purpose" and this sentence which probably saved his life: "we are maintenance" .

It is only when the two terrorists leave the lodge, continuing their criminal course, that he hears Frédéric Boisseau, calling for help.

"Jérémy, I am touched, call Catherine", he asks her.

The violence of the shock made him fall from his chair, "the smell of blood has replaced the smell of gunpowder", the pool of blood is growing second by second.

"Tell my children that I love them"

To shelter his colleague and friend, Jérémy drags him into the toilet, tries a compression point.

Unsuccessful attempt, the Kouachi brothers have just made their first victim.

“Frédo looked at me and said 'tell my children that I love them'.

His gaze froze, I understood later that he was dead, I still believed in it, ”he confides at the helm.

As Frédéric Boisseau asked him, Jérémy calls Catherine, his companion for 17 years, mother of their two children, to inform him that he has been injured.

“I told him to stop this bad joke,” remembers the fifty-something, khaki jacket and black pants at the helm.

He insists, she jumps on a suburban train "without knowing what was going on".

All afternoon, she goes back and forth between rue Nicolas Appert, where relatives of the victims are gathered and the forensic institute.

It will take nearly five hours for a police officer to confirm what she sensed, Frédéric Boisseau is on the list of victims.

“We feel empty, there is nothing left,” she describes, sobs in her throat.

At the bar, she talks about the joie de vivre of her companion, the friends who came every weekend to have barbecues, parties and aperitifs.

“With us, there were always lots of people, it was gay, it laughed.

"She describes her reconstruction, her boys who today" are balanced and are doing well ", the relatives who united around them but also the employer of Frédéric Boisseau.

While all morning, witnesses traumatized by their face-to-face with the Kouachi brothers told of having been dismissed without compassion after a sick leave deemed too long, Sodexo offered her a job a few kilometers from her home since she no longer dared to take a train then took her son alternately.

Despite the legion of honor awarded posthumously, those close to Frédéric Boisseau still have the feeling of having been eclipsed compared to the victims of Charlie Hebdo.

The media talked about them less, the body was returned to them last.

"Probably a matter of priority," said his deceased.

For Sigolène Vinson, on the contrary, all the victims of the Kouachi brothers are in the same boat.

Literally.

The Charlie Hebdo columnist tattooed a scene from her favorite book, Moby Dick, on her arm.

In the boats, around the whale, she had twelve people draw, representing all the victims of the two terrorists.

"Frédéric Boisseau and Ahmed Merabet are an integral part of my grief," she confides at the helm, her voice tied.

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