Paris attacks: Muslim guard stopped suicide bomber from entering stadium
By Dylan Stableford
In the hours after last month's terror attacks in Paris, a Muslim security guard at the Stade de France was hailed as a hero after it was reported that he prevented one of the suicide bombers from entering the stadium. However, it turned out that the guard, identified as Zouheir, was not the person who turned away the terrorist — spoiling a hopeful story that went viral in the wake of the Nov. 13 massacre.
But, according to NBC News, a Muslim security guard did, in fact, help prevent the attack: Salim Toorabally, a 42-year-old Mauritian immigrant who was checking tickets at a turnstile when a man in a dark jacket tried to sneak past him.
"He didn't have a ticket, so I stopped him," Toorabally told NBC. "I said, 'If you don't have a ticket, I'm not letting you in.'"
The man insisted he was meeting a friend inside who had a ticket for him, Toorabally said, but the guard didn't waver.
Toorabally said he then spotted the same man trying to enter the stadium through another turnstile, and warned the guard not to let him in.
A few minutes later, the man, later identified as 20-year-old Bilal Hadfi, blew himself up along with two other suicide bombers outside the stadium. One bystander was killed.