Among the many heroes in yesterday’s deadly ISIS-linked terrorist attacks in Thamrin, Central Jakarta, was Menteng Police Chief Dedy Tabarani and his officers, who were among the very first respondents to the scene. Dedy personally shot and incapacitated one of the suspected terrorists and he shared with Kompas his memories of the harrowing event.
Dedy and his men first arrived on the scene after the perpetrators had blown up the police post on Jl MH Thamrin, after which several of them relocated to the nearby Starbucks to prepare more explosives.
“Af first, I could see from afar they [the terrorist suspects] were trying to blow up a Pajero [car],” Dedy said.
Dedy said he and his team were lucky during the incident. While the terrorists were preparing a bomb, he and his team were able to flank them from the other side of the area’s Starbucks Coffee.
Dedy entered the cafe through the entrance on Jalan Wahid Hasyim. He said that two of the suspected terrorists were on the other side of the Starbucks facing Jalan MH Thamrin.
Dedy said that he then made eye contact with the perpetrators and was chilled by what he saw.
“Their eyes did not look like the eyes of frightened people. They were relaxed,” said Dedy.
Dedy said one of the terrorist then threw a bomb at police officers, which exploded not far from their location.
“After they threw the bomb, we ran, but then we went forward again. The bomb was not too powerful, not enough to injure anybody,” Dedy said.
Dedy said the events played out very quickly. After police pushed forward following the bomb throw, Dedy said it looked like the assailants were going to shoot at his team, but he said the police reacted faster. Dedy was able to shoot one of the suspected terrorists while his colleagues fired on the other perpetrators.
After that, Dedy and his men fell back to join police reinforcements arriving on the scene.
