PARIS
(AP) — Armed robbers forced their way into a private Paris residence
where Kim Kardashian West was staying, tied her up and locked her in a
bathroom before making off with more than $10 million worth of jewelry,
police officials said.
A
spokeswoman for Kardashian West said the reality TV star, who was in
Paris attending fashion week shows, was badly shaken but physically
unharmed. Police said she left Paris Monday morning.
A
Paris police official said five assailants, who were still at large,
stole a jewelry box containing valuables worth 6 million euros ($6.7
million) as well as a ring worth 4 million euros ($4.5 million.) In a
message to The Associated Press, the Paris prosecutors' office said that
only two of the five suspects forced their way into the apartment.
Police
said the thieves entered the 19th-century luxury residence in Paris'
chic eighth district after the concierge let them in. Handcuffed and at
gunpoint, he led them to the starlet's flat.
Two
police officials said the robbers tied up Kardashian West and locked
her in the bathroom before escaping on bikes. They were not authorized
to be publicly named speaking about ongoing investigations.
It's
unclear whether the couple's two children, 3-year-old daughter North
and 10-month-old son Saint, were with Kardashian West when the robbery
happened. Police said the actress' family was placed under police
protection at the George V hotel.
Her husband, Kanye West, abruptly ended his performance at the Meadows Music and Arts Festival in New York on Sunday night.
"I'm sorry, family emergency, I have to stop the show," West told the audience.
With
France under a state of emergency following extremist attacks that left
more than 200 people dead in the last 20 months, news of the robbery
immediately sparked criticism from political opponents of the Socialist
government.
Nathalie
Kosciusko-Morizet, a right-wing member of Paris council and a potential
candidate in next year's presidential election, said the robbery was
proof that "there is a general emergency on security" in the French
capital.
"Regardless
of all the very expensive advertising we do to promote 'I Love Paris,'
tourism and the image of Paris, all these ads have been brutally
canceled by the Kim Kardashian case," Kosciusko-Morizet told Europe 1
radio.
Paris
mayor Anne Hidalgo, a close ally of Socialist president Francois
Hollande, condemned the assault and said Kardashian West will "always be
welcome in Paris."
Hidalgo
said she is confident police will quickly identify and arrest the
suspects and that the incident "in no way calls into question police
work or security of public space" in Paris.
Kardashian
West was also ambushed last week by a serial celebrity accoster who
attempted to assault her as she was entering a restaurant. She was also
attacked outside of a Paris fashion week show in 2014. She wasn't hurt
in either incident.
Paris
has been a special place for Kardashian West and her husband, who spent
the weekend there before marrying in Florence in May of 2014.
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