On Paris street where body lay, a sense of normalcy returns

PARIS – It was close to midnight on a busy, mild November Friday. Paris reeled after learning men with bombs and guns had attacked popular bars, France's national stadium and the Bataclan concert hall. In those early hours, much was unclear about what had happened and who was responsible.

Near a triage center set up in a bar, as first responders ran and sirens howled, a body lay silently among autumn leaves, covered head to toe with a hospital sheet, lit softly by a street light.

A year later, everyone knows what transpired the night of Nov. 13 and who was behind it. The attack, organized by the Islamic State group, killed 130 people.

The identity of the lone body in the street has never been publicly revealed, though the photo of it shot by Jerome Delay, Associated Press chief photographer for Africa, was one of the iconic images from that night. The person might have run from the Bataclan, or been felled by gunfire in the street.

Though bits of police tape used to cordon off the crime scene still adorn parking poles, tourists and Parisians alike walk by the spot, oblivious to what happened there. A sandwich shop caters to lunch crowds. New autumn leaves cover the pavement, a reminder that life goes on, even after unthinkable tragedy.