The tragedy occurred a week ago, Saturday April 13, in a shopping center in Sydney, Australia. A man, armed with a knife, stabbed several people and killed six of them. Before being neutralized by a police officer present on site, the man was slowed down in his path by two French nationals: Damien Guerot and Silas Despreaux. The two men gave their first interview on French television to Aurélie Casse in “C l’hebdo”.
“He was somewhere else in his head. We remained in confrontation for a while, then in a second he turned around and wanted to throw himself at me
,” explained Damien Guerot live from Australia when the presenter questioned him on the details of the scene.
“We said to ourselves
“We’ll get through it”.
»
Their courage in the face of the attacker seemed so natural to them at the time that they never thought they would be publicized in this way.
“We were still in shock and at no time did we say to ourselves that it was going to take on such magnitude.”
“We didn’t realize the danger we were taking. We had a hot reaction
,” explained Silas Despreaux before adding:
“I can’t say if I would do the same thing again. I can’t explain why I had this reflex.”
Same story with Damien Guerot.
“On our own we don’t know if we would go back
,” he admitted and clarified that there were two of us helping friends face the danger.
“They are happy and proud”
And if the two French people remained particularly humble in the face of Aurélie Casse, their family lifted the veil on their true nature. Contacted by the “C l'hebdo” teams, those close to the two French people argued that this heroic behavior did not surprise them in the slightest, that they both had, and always had, a strong sense of commitment.
“It says something about you
,” said the presenter, particularly admiring their attitude.
“We are so proud to be able to make our loved ones proud. We didn't think our parents would know, we didn't want to warn them
,” they said together, not wanting to attract attention. On the contrary, Damien and Silas imagined more attracting the wrath of their families through their imprudence.
“It was the opposite. They are happy, proud and relieved that nothing happened to us.”
Damien Guerot, who was coming to the end of his right of residence on Australian soil, was also able to feel freed from a weight. Faced with this act of bravery, the Prime Minister decided to extend his visa.
“It was a very quick process. I thank the Australian Prime Minister. I still can't realize it, but it's a bit of a weird feeling
, he said, without being able to forget the circumstances in which this visa was issued:
There are people who are in mourning and I can't not be fully happy
.
In a few hours and thanks to viral videos on social networks, their respective lives have changed considerably. The two men went from anonymity to fame, without having sought it.
“Today we are doing well and that’s the main thing. We don’t have the impression that it impacted us too much
,” reassured one of the two heroes, without however being certain of returning to the shopping center in question any time soon.
“There are not only victims, there is extraordinary behavior
,” concluded Hugo Micheron.