The drama, which played out on live TV and social media, began with the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi methodically massacring 12 people Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices, stopping to shoot a wounded police officer in the head before escaping by car. After the killings at the Charlie Hebdo offices, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his 34-year-old brother Said led police on a chase around northeastern France, robbing a gas station and stealing a car before ending up at the printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele, near Charles de Gaulle airport. Authorities said the brothers temporarily took a man hostage at the plant but let him go, and a second man was later discovered to have been hiding inside the building. Hours before the Jewish Sabbath, the street is usually crowded with shoppers. Minutes before police stormed both sites, Coulibaly had threatened more violence if authorities launched an assault on the two brothers, a police official said.
– Some intriguing details about the role of cell phones in yesterday's dual raids in France that killed three suspected terrorists: Hidden helper: When Cherif and Said Kouachi holed up in a building outside Paris, they were unaware that a man identified as Lilian Lepere, 26, was hiding inside. He was reportedly under a sink but close enough to hear the brothers talk, and he began texting police information about their whereabouts, his whereabouts, and the building itself, reports Sky News. The dialogue lasted three hours, and a police official says it gave authorities crucial help ahead of the raid, reports the Wall Street Journal. Didn't hang up: The hostage-taker at the kosher market in Paris, Amedy Coulibaly, called a TV station at one point but failed to properly hang up the phone after talking. "This allowed police to hear him saying a final prayer before his death, perhaps suggesting that this prompted the police raid," reports AP. Hostage location: Several people at the market hid in a refrigeration unit, including a father and his toddler-age son. When the man's mother realized they were trapped inside the market, she opted not to call in case they were hidden. Instead, she gave the phone number to police, who were able to track the location of the hostages inside the store, reports AFP. The information may have helped them survive when the raid took place.