Birthday party ends in murder at La Belle Equipe cafe massacre - one man describes the gruesome scene

'I saw people die. I had people die in my arms and there wasn't anything I could do to help them.'

When shots rang out in Paris' La Belle Equipe café, Ludovic Boumbas did not hesitate to throw himself between a gunman and his friend Chloe Clement. Others in the area step forward to describe the fearful scene unfolding before them.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Boumbas and Clament were at La Belle Equipe café, celebrating a friend's 35th birthday when two gunmen opened fire.

An unnamed friend of Boumbas' told MailOnline that Chloe was frozen with fear when Boumbas, called "Ludo" by his friends, threw himself between Clament and the gunman.

"She was also shot," the friend said, "but she survived and is in hospital."

Virgile Grunberg, the manager of a nearby bar called Café des Anges, went to visit Clament in the hospital and reported "She was on morphine and was in shock. She would barely speak. She felt guilty because Ludovic died for her. She just kept repeating his name again and again."

Grunberg's wife was killed in the massacre, and he asked himself, "Where are they now? I don't know. I am making prayers for them, even though I don't know if religion is true."

He added, "What is happening in Syria is coming here. Now we know everyone can be a target. Paris is afraid."

Ludo was a FedEx employee and was present at waitress Houda Saadi's birthday party when gunmen wearing bullet-proof vests appeared. There were 19 victims following the attack, several of whom were part of Saadi's birthday party. Five staff at the café, now being called the "Café of Angels," were murdered as well.

Saadi and her sister Halima both killed died in their brothers Khaled and Bashir's arms as the men attempted to save their sisters. 

An employee at the café, Romain Ranouil, arrived as the café was under attack. "At first I thought it was scaffolding collapsing, because it was a very metallic sound," he said. "Then I saw people slumped on the tables, dead."

A dentist with hospital experience and who asked to only be called Jean Pierre, arrived at a restaurant next to  La Belle Equipe café for dinner when he heard the sound of bullets ringing into the night.

"We ran to the back of the restaurant," he told People, "Everyone took cover in the back on the floor." Following the hail of gunfire, Jean Pierre and his son ran for help. 

"What I saw was absolute carnage. I saw people die. I had people die in my arms and there wasn't anything I could do to help them. I've worked in hospitals. That evening I saw people. Children. Kids, 17 or 18 years old. There was a dozen, nearly two dozen dead. Dead and dying.

"I took one in my arms, held her, telling her 'Don't move. Don't move.' I've worked in hospitals, been trained in wounds and spent my life as a dentist working with blood and wounds. I know what has to be done. You have to stay with them, keep them with you. But there wasn't anything you could do."

Emergency responders and police arrived within ten minutes of calls for help and took control of the scene of the shooting with in 30 minutes. 

"I went into the restaurant," Jean Pierre said. "I can never forget what I saw. I will never understand, never comprehend what I saw. I can't. I saw people seated in the restaurant dead. Some were holding onto a glass. Others were slumped forward on the tables, like they were sleeping."

Hundreds have since gathered outside La Belle Equipe café, where a shrine has been created by mourners. Flowers have been placed before the café and candles have been lit, with one woman shouting, "Liberty!" as she lit her candle.

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