Number 3 of NEWS 1130’s Top 10 of 2015

PARIS (NEWS 1130) – It started as a normal evening for those in Paris on November 13^th, 2015, with some enjoying a nice dinner, others taking in a show or a football match. Nobody could have imagined how the night was going to unfold.

The first in a series of attacks around the city began just after 9:00pm there, with suicide bombers striking near the Stade de France, which is in Saint-Denis. Thousands inside the stadium were confused as they heard loud noises, but then news started trickling in of other attacks.

Killing 130 people, attackers shot up cafes, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall.

Emilioi Macchio was at a bar when he heard gunshots. “It sounded like fireworks,” he told the Associated Press.

Bianca Valle told ABC News she and a friend were walking when they heard shots, so they ran to a nearby restaurant and got in just before the owner pulled down a metal security gate.

“They huddled us back into their kitchen and closed all the doors and waited in silence until someone got news on their telephone,” said Valle.

At the Bataclan, US band The Eagles of Death Metal were playing and they got out safely despite attackers holding more than one hundred people hostage. After hours, a standoff with police took place and many of the people inside were freed but had to move out through corpses of those who did not survive. A total of 89 people lost their lives at the Bataclan. Witnesses describe the scene as a bloody mess.

“I crawled on the ground as low as possible without getting up,” detailed Arthur, one of the fans in the audience.”I scrambled for the emergency exit on the left. We all crawled. Others tried to walk out and stepped on an arm or two.”

“To see it with my own eyes, it was like being in a horror film,” said witness Ludovic Mintchov to AP. “In 10 years, I won’t forget it.”

French President Francois Hollande immediately imposed border checks, while declaring a state of emergency. He called the attacks unprecedented and an act of war. He was at the Stade de France when those attacks occurred, and was immediately escorted out of the building.

“An act of war prepared, planned, from outside, with outside complicity which an investigation will establish,” explained Hollande.

Many of the attackers died in the shootings and bombings. In the following days, police engaged in multiple raids throughout France and in Belgium, with others suspected of being involved, dying as well.