A Paris hostage situation is unfolding at this hour in what investigators are saying was a botched armed robbery.
An estimated ten employees of the Primark boutique chain are currently being held at gunpoint inside a store near the nation’s capitol by two or three gunmen, according to an emergency text message sent by one of the hostages.
Both the BBC and Agence France-Presse reports that special forces have surrounded the store, halted traffic, and sealed entry and exit to the building and the neighborhood it’s situated in.
The Primark clothier branch presently under siege is in the Parisian suburb of Villeneuve-la-Garenne, which is not far from the city of Paris itself.
Officials say they managed to evacuate about 18 people before the standoff developed into a full blown hostage crisis.
The breaking story is developing and it’s not clear yet if the hostage-takers have issued any demands.
