A senior gendarme, Lt. Col. Arnaud Beltrame, voluntarily swapped places with a hostage. After a three-hour stand-off, Lakdim fatally shot and stabbed Beltrame. A police tactical unit immediately stormed the building and killed Lakdim. He was named a "soldier of the Islamic State" by the Amaq News Agency, and the President of France called the attacks an act of Islamist terrorism. 