--- description: "I told the customers to stay calm" title: Muslim Employee Who Saved Customers in Jewish Grocery Store Tells His Story image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb5d708c38f1c6d2/69877a673c1639dbe34513c1/461559062.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Paris Hero Describes How He Saved Customers During Supermarket Attack  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 16, 2015 5:38 PM CUT  Malian Lassana Bathily, a Muslim employee who helped Jewish shoppers hide in a cold storage room from an islamist gunman during the Jan. 9 attack, poses on Jan. 15, 2015 in Paris. Malian Lassana Bathily, a Muslim employee who helped Jewish shoppers hide in a cold storage room from an islamist gunman during the Jan. 9 attack, poses on Jan. 15, 2015 in Paris.Francois Guillot—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 16, 2015 5:38 PM CUT The Muslim shop employee hailed as a hero for saving customers during a terrorist attack on a Kosher supermarket last week has described how he hid people in a cold storage room as a gunman assaulted the store. Lassana Bathily, 24, told the [BBC ](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30847333?ocid=socialflow%5Ftwitter "undefined")that he was working in the basement of the Hyper Casher grocery store when he heard gunshots on Jan. 9\. “The customers started running down the steps. They were screaming \[that\] there were terrorists in the shop,” he said. Bathily ushered the customers into a cold storage room, then switched off the refrigerator and the lights. “I told the customers to stay calm. \[I said:\] If the terrorist comes down here he must not hear you.” Bathily said once everyone had quieted down, he decided to go outside to help the police. Initially, police thought he was one of the gunmen, but he convinced them he was trying to help. “I told them a lot of hostages were hidden in the basement. They asked me to draw a map of the shop to help with their assault.” ### Witness Scenes From the Paris Hostage Standoff  Police arrive with guns at Port de Vincennes on Jan. 9, 2015 in Paris. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  Police mobilize with reports of a hostage situation at Port de Vincennes on Jan. 9, 2015 in Paris. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  French police special forces evacuate local residents on Jan. 9, 2015 in Saint-Mande, near Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris. Martin Bureau—AFP/Getty Images  People are led away from the scene as Police mobilize with reports of a hostage situation at Port de Vincennes on Jan. 9, 2015 in Paris. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  Police are mobilized with reports of a hostage situation at Port de Vincennes on Jan. 9, 2015 in Paris. Dan Kitwood—Getty Images  A screengrab taken from an AFP TV video shows a general view of members of the French police special forces launching the assault at a kosher grocery store in Porte de Vincennes, eastern Paris, on Jan. 9, 2015. Gabrielle Chatelain—AFP/Getty Images  The moment when members of the French anti-terror forces RAID storm the kosher store where Amedy Coulibaly, an islamist gunman holds hostages, on Cours de Vincennes in Paris, on Jan. 9, 2015. Nicolas Gouhier—ABACA The gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, killed four hostages before police raided the grocery store and shot him. Bathily condemned the attack along with the related attack on _Charlie Hebdo_ earlier that week, saying “they were just criminals who want to make people suffer.” Bathily is Muslim and originally from Mali, but he became so close with his Jewish co-workers at the store that they sometimes teased him about getting a Jewish girlfriend. Bathily, who emigrated to France nine years ago, will be given French citizenship in a ceremony next Tuesday. He applied for citizenship last year, but his application has been fast-tracked after more than [300,000 people signed ](http://time.com/3669230/paris-terror-attack-charlie-hebdo-lassana-bathily/ "undefined")an online petition to grant him legal status. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30847333?ocid=socialflow%5Ftwitter "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/"},"headline":"Paris Hero Describes How He Saved Customers During Supermarket Attack","datePublished":"2015-01-16T17:38:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:10.372Z","description":"\"I told the customers to stay calm\"","url":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/","keywords":["France","jews","Muslim","terrorist attack","paris"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb5d708c38f1c6d2/69877a673c1639dbe34513c1/461559062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb5d708c38f1c6d2/69877a673c1639dbe34513c1/461559062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"FRANCE-ATTACKS-CHARLIE-HEBDO","caption":"FRANCE-ATTACKS-CHARLIE-HEBDO","creditText":"Francois Guillot—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/","name":"Paris Hero Describes How He Saved Customers During Supermarket Attack"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The World Mourns The Paris Terror Attacks","description":"A look at how the world has united in response of the terror attacks in Paris.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/tr7uFm9a/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-08T22:47:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/tr7uFm9a.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/","duration":"PT1M29S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3671439/paris-terror-lassana-bathily-grocery/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```