Murder of Parisian policeman filmed by witness

From the vantage point of a first, or perhaps second, floor apartment window, a person armed with what was probably a smart phone recorded in 42 seconds the calculated "execution" of a policeman in Paris.

The film is available online.

The Irish Times has chosen not to show it because of the graphic content.

Shot through the leaves of a rubber plant on a window sill, the film shows two men getting out of a small black Citroen car that is stopped in the middle of what appears to be a one-way street. On either side, other vehicles, including a white transit-type rent-a-van, are parked.

Apart from the gunmen and the about-to-be-murdered policemen, no other people are visible on the street.

Both gunmen, who exit the four-door car from the front seats, are dressed in black shirts and trousers and are wearing balaclava face masks. One also has on a beige vest, the sort that might otherwise be worn by someone fishing on a river or lake.

Both terrorists point their semi-automatic rifles forward. Four shots ring out, fired apparently by the man who leapt from the driver’s seat-side of the vehicle.

His accomplice then fires five more.

The camera pans right, showing a bench, some mature trees and what appears to be a parking ticket machine.

A policeman is revealed lying prone, face down on the pavement.

He rolls partially over, prising himself up on his left shoulder and, looking back over his right shoulder at the now approaching gunmen, who are running at him, he raises both hands as if to signal surrender, or pleading for his life.

He shouts something that is difficult to decipher.

The gunman who is dressed all in black and is forward of the other, lowers his weapon and shoots the policeman, apparently in the back or side of his head. There is a “puff” of something – debris from the policeman’s head or the bullet hitting the pavement, perhaps.

The policeman slumps back down onto the pavement. He is very obviously dead.

The gunmen continue running past him, veering back onto the road before trotting back to their black Citroen, with no great urgency.

They shout something to people beyond the rear of the vehicle, out of sight of the camera, before getting back into their car and driving off.

The footage is but 42 seconds long. The images for anyone who saw them will last longer.