Meanwhile, Sebastien had climbed out the next window and was holding on to an air vent. When the woman couldn't hang on any longer, she asked him to help her back inside. After he crawled back into the torrent of gunfire and pulled her in, they were immediately separated. He never knew what happened to her until they were reunited Monday when a friend sent him a message that the woman and her unborn child are "safe and sound" thanks to his brave rescue.
After pulling the woman inside, Sebastien climbed out his window again and clung from the air vent until he felt a gun barrel against his leg. A terrorist ordered him to come inside and lie down on the floor. He said gunmen were telling hostages to phone French TV channels. They wanted to talk to reporters, but they could not get through. "I went from hope to feeling resigned to death," he said. Then an elite French police unit smashed the door and threw in stun grenades. He said, "A grenade exploded and the blast propelled me under the battering ram. All the police ran over the top. I was trampled, but it was the happiest pain of my life. I was alive." Sebastien explained that at a time of total madness, tiny gestures accomplish great things. He said, "You can hardly imagine how much an outstretched hand, a hand on the shoulder, helped some people."
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