It takes a certain kind of person to walk into an office block and murder in cold blood innocent journalists as they sit at their desks drinking coffee. There’s no doubt that the Charlie Hebdo massacre brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were just those kinds of people.
But in a new report in the Daily Mail , at least one of the brothers, Cherif , wasn’t exactly the nicest neighbor either, and certainly not the type of guy you want living next door to you in a quiet Paris suburb.
According to the report, Cherif, who clearly suffered from a serious case of anger issues, attacked his 32-year-old neighbor and threatened him when he attempted to press charges against him.
The neighbour, who wished to remain nameless for obvious reasons, told reporters that Kouachi would often knock on his door and complain that he was listening to pop music, which he said was “haram” (sinful in English) and insist he stop playing it.
Cherif Kouachi reportedly lived above the man in a seven-storey block in Gennevilliers, a suburb in the north of Paris, for a period of seven years.
The disgruntled neighbor told reporters that two years ago, Kouachi knocked at his door and said, “Don’t listen to such music anymore. This is the music of the infidels.”
Apparently, Kouachi, who only listened to Islamic music, later confronted his neighbor in the street and threatened him, saying, “Haven’t you understood yet? You’re still listening to infidels’ music, you need to stop.”
With that, the neighbor responded, saying, “I’m paying my rent, I have the right to listen to whatever I want. Suddenly, he headbutted me really hard. I told him: ‘You should be ashamed, you’re a Muslim and you’re religion tells you to respect others and to not be violent.’”
Even though the man reported Cherif Kouachi to the police, he decided not to press charges after having received a late-night visit from his upstairs neighbor.
As he told the publication, “When Kouachi found out that I’d reported him to the police he came back to tell me that if I went further with my complaint then I would hear from him. “He told me: ‘I’m not alone. We will come for you.’”