Jesse Hughes, lead singer of band playing at the Bataclan in Paris when terrorists opened fire, says ‘so many people put themselves in front of people’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The lead singer of rock back Eagles of Death Metal has told how the Paris terrorists killed fans hiding in the band’s dressing room at the Bataclan theatre.



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In an emotional interview with Vice, Jesse Hughes, 43, described how just one person in the room survived – by hiding under the vocalist’s leather jacket.

Eighty-nine of the Paris attacks’ 130 deaths were at the band’s concert on 13 November 13 where Islamist gunmen fired into the crowd. More than 100 more were injured.

Vice released a short clip of an interview by its founder Shane Smith with Hughes and band co-founder Josh Homme, the frontman of Queens of the Stone Age, ahead of the full interview being released.

In the video an emotional Hughes said: “Several people hid in our dressing room and the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them, except for a kid who was hiding under my leather jacket.



“People were playing dead and they were so scared – a great reason so many were killed was because so many people wouldn’t leave their friends. So many people put themselves in front of people.”

As the terrorists held people hostage at the Bataclan, armed French police stormed the building and shot one dead, while two others blew themselves up using suicide vests. Another gunman died nearby.

One of those killed was Nick Alexander, 36, from Colchester in the UK, who was selling merchandise for the band.

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The death toll from the attacks rose to 130 on Friday, one week since Isis militants attacked the concert hall, the French national stadium and several cafes and restaurants in Paris, leaving hundreds injured. Ninety people remained in intensive care.

The UN security council has backed a French-sponsored resolution designed “to combat by all means this unprecedented threat”, saying IS “constitutes a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security”.



France will be on a state of high alert until well into the new year after the country’s senate voted to extend a state of emergency for three months following last week’s deadly attacks. The move expands powers to allow police to carry out arrests and searches, while authorities can ban the movement of people and vehicles at specific times and places.

With the Press Association