Jérémie Louis-Sidney

Born the only son in a 7-sibling family, Louis-Sidney suffered from a difficulties at school and quickly fell in juvenile delinquency, leading to his placement in a foster care family, and later in a semi-closed establishment.[1] He escaped the facility at the age of 17 and converted to Islam around this point.[1]

Louis-Sidney moved to Cannes, where he made a living from odd jobs.[1] On 6 September 2007, he was arrested on suspicions of drug dealing.[1] After a six-month detention, he was sentenced on 16 April 2008 to a one-year prison term and another year in suspended sentence, walking free under a reprieve deal.[1]

In May 2009, Louis-Sidney published a rap song comprising vague conspiracy theories on the 11 of September attacks, child trafficking, organ trafficking, bar codes and media manipulation.[1][2] Around the same time, police reported that Louis-Sidney met regularly with a group of associates who would end up being suspected in terrorist affairs.[1][3]

Religiously married to two women,[4] Louis-Sidney lived in the Esplanade neighbourhood of Strasbourg.[5]

Louis-Sidney came to the attention of the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence in spring 2012.[4] He became the main suspect in the 19 September fragmentation grenade[2] attack against a kosher shop at Sarcelles, in which one person was lightly wounded, when his DNA signature was found on the lever of the weapon.[4][6]

On 6 October 2012, the French police anti-terrorist unit RAID launched a France-wide arrest against the various elements of Louis-Sidney's group, known as the "Cannes-Torcy cell". At 6 in the morning, they broke in his Strasbourg apartment;[7] Louis-Sidney turned out to be armed with a 357-calibre Smith & Wesson revolver and opened fire,[4] wounding one of the officers in the thorax.[6] Louis-Sidney was killed by the return fire of the police after firing all six shots in his weapon.[1]

The police reported finding a testament tape where Louis-Sidney claimed to wish to "die a martyr".[4][5] Paris prosecutor François Molins cited Louis-Sidney as an example of "rapid radicalisation".[6]