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This witness to the Charlie Hebdo attack is tweeting what he saw

Outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo after the shooting.
Outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo after the shooting.
Outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo after the shooting.
Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images
Libby Nelson
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.

Yve Cresson, who works for a media production company in a building near the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, has been tweeting since the shooting about what he saw and heard.

According to Cresson’s Twitter bio, he works for Bayoo, a media company whose offices are near Charlie Hebdo’s on the Rue Nicolas Appert.

The first tweets described hearing gunfire:

“Exchange of gunfire in Rue Nicolas Appert 75011 around the Charlie Hebdo headquarters”

“Injuries at Charlie, we fear the worst”

Cresson tweeted photos of ambulances taking away the wounded:

Cresson tweeted that the gunmen originally came to the wrong offices, apparently taking advantage of the mail carrier’s arrival to gain entry:

“At 11:25 a.m., taking advantage of the mail carrier’s arrival, two armed men wearing balaclavas entered our offices. They were looking for Charlie”

“They shot twice. The bullets went through the door and the window”

Cresson later clarified that those shots were fired in his office: “Two armed men entered our offices. They were looking for Charlie Hebdo and left after shooting twice.”

Cresson found it puzzling that the men didn’t have the right address:

“Question: the assassins were as calm as professionals, but hadn’t located the offices of Charlie Hebdo. They took the wrong staircase at first”

“The scouting of Charlie Hebdo was very imprecise. They at first got the wrong premises and address.”

Cresson also tweeted a photo of cartridge found in his office:

And he described what they were wearing: balaclavas and bulletproof vests:

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