‘Pools of Blood Filled the Floor:’ Paris Attack Survivor Reveals How She Played Dead For Hours

‘Pools of Blood Filled the Floor:’ Paris Attack Survivor Reveals How She Played Dead For Hours
Zachary Stieber
11/15/2015
Updated:
11/15/2015

(Isobel Bowdery/Facebook)
(Isobel Bowdery/Facebook)

 

Tudhope told Sky News she thought the gunfire was fire crackers at first, but she then saw bullets.

“A second round went off, most people ducked, but I just said run, just get out of here. In the confusion, if we had gone left we would have instantly been out on to the street and probably the first people out of the building, but, just confused, we ran right and ended up being in a room that we couldn’t get out of. There were no exits but we found a door to the cellar, which we just ran into but then realised we were trapped and there was no way out of there,” she said.

“A few seconds later the door burst open and we just thought, they’re coming we are going to die. It was two other concertgoers. We managed to barricade ourselves in, turn the lights out and we were then trapped there for the next three hours just having to listen to what was happening.”

A woman lays flowers outside the Bataclan theater in Paris, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015.  (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
A woman lays flowers outside the Bataclan theater in Paris, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015.  (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

 

John Leader, 46, was another survivor from the Eagles of Death Metal concert. The Australian native, who has lived in Paris for a decade and a half, told CNN that he told his son to “stay down” when he first heard gunshots.

“I felt something go past my ear, then I realised something was going toward the stage. At that point I think everyone understood. Everybody threw themselves on the ground,” he said.

“The shooter was standing at the back of the hall and targeting people at the front. He was taking aim. He was not spraying. It was clinical. He was aiming: aim, fire, aim, fire, aim, fire.”

(Alejo Schapire/Twitter)
(Alejo Schapire/Twitter)

 

Then he spotted a chance to escape.

“To my right I saw people running and saw that someone had opened an exit door. I grabbed Oscar and said ‘Let’s go!’. Then we saw a lake of blood and bodies lying everywhere.”

 

Benjamin Cazenoves, who was also inside but managed to survive, described the scene via Facebook as “carnage,” confirming there were “bodies everywhere.”

Over 100 people died in the attacks, while hundreds of others were wounded across the city. As many as 80 died at Bataclan.