Following up on the previous stories of the day, detailing the end of the Kouachi brothers during their last stand near Charles de Gaulle Airport, and the hostage-taking by other terrorists at a kosher supermarket in Paris. We now know that the assault on the supermarket was apparently an attempt to distract police in order to help the brothers escape. Four hostages within the supermarket were killed at the very beginning of the siege. The terrorists in the kosher supermarket were Amedy Coulibaly, 32, and his common-law wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, 26.

At the kosher grocery near the Porte de Vincennes neighborhood in Paris, the gunman burst in shooting just a few hours before the Jewish Sabbath began, declaring “You know who I am,” the official recounted. The attack came before sundown when the store would have been crowded with shoppers.

Coulibaly killed the four people in the market shortly after entering, (Paris Prosecutor Francois) Molins said.

Several people who were wounded when the gunman opened fire in the grocery store fled and got medical care, the official said.

Minutes before police stormed both sites, Coulibaly had threatened to kill his five hostages if authorities launched an assault on the two brothers, a police official said.

Coulibaly and Boumeddiene are also suspected in yesterday’s murder of French policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe, which authorities determined was linked to the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Coulibaly also confirmed to a French media outlet that he contacted that he and the Kouachis were working in concert, though he claimed affiliation with Islamic State, or ISIS, and the Kouachis claimed to be part of Al Qaeda.

Coulibaly had also called BFM-TV to claim allegiance to Islamic State, saying he wanted to defend Palestinians and target Jews.

Coulibaly said he had jointly planned the attacks with the Kouachi brothers, and police confirmed they were all members of the same Islamist cell in northern Paris.