“He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time. » Ten years after the Charlie Hebdo killings, the president of the Clermont-Ferrand International Travel Journal Meeting, Pierrette Veil, still has a lump in her throat at the mention of her friend, Michel Renaud, with whom she created this festival in 2000. On January 7, 2015, the Clermontois, a well-known and appreciated local figure, visited Paris within the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo. A few weeks earlier, Cabu lent him some drawings. Michel Renaud came to give it back, accompanied by his friend Gérard Gaillard, then aged 76.
The cartoonist suggests that they stay to attend the newspaper's first editorial conference of the year. Which they accept willingly, looking forward to experiencing the “Charlie spirit” from within. A few minutes later, the Kouachi brothers burst into the premises. They kill indiscriminately. Among the victims, Michel Renaud, 69, collapsed. His friend Gérard Gaillard escaped miraculously, after throwing himself under a table. Ten years later, the trauma is still alive in the memories of Michel Renaud's loved ones.
