Elderly Man Dies of Heart Attack While Pursuing Bank Card Thief in Paris

An attempt to catch the thief of his bank card cost him his life. Mohamed, an 80-year-old Moroccan retiree, living in an apartment in the Charonne neighborhood, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, died after chasing the thief of his bank card. He had just been the victim of a theft of his bank card in front of an ATM of a bank branch. He is said to have died of a heart attack. Chedli, a hairdresser in the neighborhood who was chatting during his break with a friend, heard the cries of the Moroccan octogenarian around 11 a.m. "My card, my card!" he was shouting on the sidewalk across the street.

"I saw the old man fall forward. His face was full of blood," recalls Chedli. The old man "had a facial injury," confirms the Paris prosecutor’s office. Without hesitation, the 47-year-old Tunisian starts chasing the thief. "I rushed without thinking," he explains to Le Figaro. After a few minutes of chase, he manages to grab the thief by the collar with the help of a passer-by. "Give back the card," the forty-something yells. In the process, an Austin Mini approaches the hairdresser and the thief who denies the facts. He gets into the car. But before that, he receives blows to the face. "I don’t hesitate to hit him in the face," details the Tunisian. The car takes off at full speed.

The one who calls himself the hero of the Rue d’Avron for having helped victims of attacks returns to his hairdressing salon. He learns of Mohamed’s death. "It shook me up," confides the Tunisian who, without papers, has been working on this street for 21 years. "His son came to thank me," he is moved. Mohamed will be buried in Morocco in the next few days. After the death of the Moroccan octogenarian, the second district of the judicial police is conducting an investigation for "theft with violence resulting in death," opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office, in order to determine the exact circumstances of this unfortunate event. The suspect is still at large. He risks "life imprisonment," the prosecutor’s office said. The results of the autopsy performed on Monday are still awaited.