Paris Terror Attack Latest News: Muslim Man To Receive Award For Heroic Act

A Muslim employee of a kosher grocery store in Paris is set to receive French citizenship next week in recognition of his heroic act after he helped protect customers from an attack by an Islamist gunman.

Lassana Bathily, 24, will receive French nationality in a ceremony set on Tuesday, Jan. 20, after his application has been fast-tracked, the BBC reported.

Bathily is originally from Mali but has lived in France since 2006. According to the Interior Ministry, he has requested for citizenship in July.

As of 20:09 EST, Friday, 325,722 supporters had signed the petition in Change.org for Bathily to be granted French citizenship.

Lassana, who was working in the basement of the Hyper Casher grocery store on the fateful day of Jan. 9, risked his life by ushering customers into a walk-in freezer as a gunman attacked the kosher outlet.

"The customers started running down the steps. They were screaming [that] there were terrorists in the shop," Bathily was reported as saying by BBC.

He then asked the customers to come inside the cold storage room. "I told them to come in with me. Then I switched off the fridge and the lights.

"I told the customers to stay calm. [I said:] If the terrorist comes down here he must not hear you."

Bathily went upstairs through a freight elevator after the gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, asked everyone to come up.

If they didn't? "Otherwise, he would kill everyone who was downstairs," he said.

"I took the service lift out of the basement. I rushed out and saw the police everywhere," he said. "They told me to put my hands up but then they asked me for my help."

"I told them a lot of hostages were hidden in the basement. They asked me to draw a map of the shop to help with their assault."

The French police later killed the gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, had fatally shot four people inside the store.

The Change.org petition also asked French President Francois Hollande that Bathily be given the Legion d'Honneur, a prestigious award awarded to people who have performed exceptional deeds for France.

"Even in darkness and desolation, there's always a ray of light somewhere," the petition's creator, Thiaba Bruni, was quoted by CNN as saying. "Such is the case with Lassana Bathily."

In Facebook, a man claiming to be Bathily's cousin, Abdoul Bathily, posted, "Lass Bathily, you showed courage yesterday. The rest of the world would not have done it."