Father of shooter at Paris' Orly Airport: 'My son was never a terrorist'

Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French officials completed an autopsy Sunday to determine whether a suspected Islamic extremist was drunk or high on drugs when he took a soldier hostage at Paris’ Orly Airport and was shot dead by her fellow patrolmen.

The suspect, Ziyed Ben Belgacem, stopped at a bar in the wee hours Saturday morning, around four hours before he first fired bird shot at traffic police. Then, 90 minutes later, he attacked the military patrol at Orly, causing panic and the shutdown of the French capital’s second-biggest airport.

A subsequent police search of his flat found cocaine, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. Blood samples taken during Sunday’s autopsy were to be screened for drugs and alcohol, the prosecutors’ office said.

In an interview Sunday with French radio Europe 1, a man identified as the suspect’s father said Belgacem wasn’t a practicing Muslim and drank alcohol.

“My son was never a terrorist. He never attended prayer. He drank. But under the effects of alcohol and cannabis, this is where one ends up,” said the father.