One of three suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris Wednesday that left 12 dead has turned himself in, according to multiple news reports.
The youngest of the trio of gunmen, 18-year-old Hamid Mourad, is in police custody, according to ABC, Le Monde and France 24.
On Thursday, French ambassador to Australia, Christophe Lecourtier at a press conference in Canberra, Australia, confirmed Mourad had been arrested. He also noted the 18-year-old suspect has a criminal history.
Mourad turned himself into a police station in Charleville-Mézières, which is in northern France, Le Monde reports.
Police issued a wanted poster for the two other suspects, Cherif Kouachi, 34, who was convicted on terrorism charges in 2008 and his brother, Said Kouachi, 32. The Kouachi brothers were born to Algerian parents in Paris. Mourad’s nationality is unknown.
According to the wanted poster released early Thursday morning local time, the Kouachi brothers are presumed to be armed and dangerous. Police are seeking information from the public regarding their whereabouts.
As police hunted for the suspects, who wore masks during the deadly terror attack at the satirical newspaper’s office in Paris, authorities raided an apartment in Reims, a city east of Paris in France’s Champagne country.
The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, says there were “several arrests” overnight.
In an interview with RTL radio Thursday, Valls said preventing another attack “is our main concern.”
Video from BFM-TV showed police dressed in white apparently taking samples inside an apartment. iTELE, a French news channel said authorities were searching for DNA samples and other evidence. It was not immediately clear who lived there.
Les policiers (vraisemblablement police scientifique) toujours présents dans l’appartement. pic.twitter.com/BCAHXfq7jn
— Hugo Clément (@hugoclement) January 8, 2015
#Reims derrière ces policiers, l’appart au 1er étage perquisitionné. la +part des unités d’élite ont quitté la cité pic.twitter.com/zKoEaAv1Gk
— Guillaume Auda (@GuillaumeAuda) January 8, 2015
Mood outside Reims block of flats is relaxed. Police commandos pulled back. Killer(s) not here if they ever were.
— Jonathan Rugman (@jrug) January 8, 2015
The suspects, caught on tape by an eyewitness, shouted “Allahu akbar!” — which translates to “God is greater!” in Arabic — as they walked outside Charlie Hebdo’s office carrying large guns and dressed entirely in black. The magazine staff was in an editorial meeting, around lunchtime in Paris, when the gunmen opened fire. Ten employees were killed, along with two police officers. Eleven others were wounded; four of those injuries are serious.
Charlie Hebdo has long been scorned by some Muslims because of its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. In 2011, the publication was firebombed after it ran a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
An official who spoke to the Associated Press, on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive and ongoing investigation, said the suspects were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network.
France raised its terror alert system to the maximum level — Attack Alert — and bolstered security with more than 800 extra soldiers to guard media offices, places of worship, transport and other sensitive areas.