The terrorist who gunned down four people at a kosher market in eastern Paris earlier this month recorded the attack on a camera, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN on Friday.
The information backed up a report by Eric Pelletier, a national security reporter at the French magazine L’Express, who wrote that Amedy Coulibaly recorded seven minutes of the attack, including the moments when he killed three people.
Citing a French source close to the investigation, Pelletier reported that Coulibaly was able to use a computer at the market to email a copy of the attack video before he was killed by police.
Coulibaly was carrying the GoPro camera on his torso during the January 9 attack and subsequent standoff, the source told L’Express. French investigators have viewed the recording, said Pelletier, who shared details of his reporting with CNN.
“There is a strong probability that this video may have been transmitted to a recipient and not to a traditional media outlet,” said an investigator, who expressed his fear to see that video surface online one day.
The source said French investigators have examined computers recovered from the grocery store and are looking into what accomplices Coulibaly may have connected with around that time.
Several survivors said Coulibaly tried to connect to the Internet on his own computer but failed. He then went to second computer in the store after forcing a hostage to help him. He inserted his memory card into the computer and appeared to be manipulating video or image files on the computer.
Coulibaly reportedly had proclaimed his allegiance to ISIS. He is believed to have killed a policewoman a day before the market attack.
Officials said they believe Hayat Boumeddiene, Coulibaly’s widow, may have played a role in the plans and has fled to Syria.
Two days before Coulibaly was killed, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi attacked the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring 11. They died the same day as Coulibaly as police moved in to end a separate siege.