In a scary turn of events, Kim Kardashian was bound, gagged and robbed at gunpoint in Paris—and while more than $10 million worth of jewelry and several other belongings are gone, Kim is safe and back stateside.Â
The robbery happened around 2:30 a.m. local time at the “No Name Hotel,” as it’s known to locals. Husband Kanye West owns an apartment in the building. The hotel—actually called l’Hotel de Pourtalès—is often frequented by high-profile celebrities, including Leonardo DiCaprio. Though the hotel is shrouded in secrecy (its website requires a log-in, and information, such as its address, is not listed online), security on the premises is surprising loose. The thieves—reports say there were five—had no problem getting in. They held the concierge up at gunpoint, making him lead them to Kim’s residence.
People spoke with a security expert, who says he doesn’t believe this was a random attack.
“It wasn’t something, like, they were just walking down the street and said, ‘Oh, I heard that Kardashian was here. Let’s just go in and rob her,’ ” Christopher Hagon, who has provided security for the Royal Family, says. “This was an organized attacked based on known information.”Â
He also says that Kim’s active social media presence could have played a role.Â
“If you’re constantly putting information out there, keeping your name in the public eye … keeping details of your wealth in the public eye then you are … increasing the chances of a possible attack,” he tells People.
In the days leading up to the attack, it was easy to track Kim’s movements—just about everything was documented across her social media platforms, as well as by the paparazzi, whose photos revealed that Kim’s bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, was accompanying her sisters Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner while they were out on the town that night. In addition to her whereabouts, her posts revealed the millions in diamonds she had with her.
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Of course, this isn’t to say she and her team are to blame—celebrity or not, nobody should be subject to this sort of attack—but Hagon says there are things he would’ve done differently.
“If you really are concerned about your personal security then you’ve really got to make it as difficult as possible for people to hone in on you as a possible target,” he says, adding that he would “bolster [their] security approach accordingly.”