Charlie Hebdo attack: At least 12 killed in shooting at Paris satirical magazine that mocked Muslim Prophet Muhammad; manhunt for gunmen underway
The shooters are still on the loose after killing 2 cops and 10 Charlie Hebdo magazine staffers during a Wednesday editorial meeting. French President François Hollande called the attack an act of terrorism, while President Obama condemned the shooting as 'cowardly' and 'evil.' Just before the shooting, the magazine tweeted a cartoon apparently showing ISIS’s top leader. The newsroom was firebombed in 2011 after it published a cartoon of Muslim Prophet Muhammad on its cover.
BY MEG WAGNER , GINNY POWER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2015, 6:26 AM
Updated: Wednesday, January 7, 2015, 3:03 PM
- A
- A
- A
PreviousNext
Two cops and 10 journalists were killed Wednesday when terrorists armed with guns and a rocket launcher stormed the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine famous for making fun of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad and Islamic leaders.
The three shooters are still on the loose after they fled from the newsroom in Paris' 11th administrative district, about five miles from the Eiffel Tower.
France raised its alert to the highest level Wednesday after President François Hollande called the shooting "a terrorist attack without a doubt."
While police have not determined a motive, the magazine tweeted a cartoon about ISIS' top terrorist just minutes before the shooting rampage. The office was once bombed in 2011 after joking about Islam's prophet.
"No barbaric act will ever extinguish the freedom of the press," President Hollande wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
No terrorist group claimed responsibility for the horrific slaughter, although members of the Islamic State and Al Qaeda terrorist groups applauded the carnage.
“The lions of Islam have avenged our prophet,” said Abu Mussab, a Syrian fighter with ISIS. “It’s the first drop — more will follow.”
An Al Qaeda associate tweeted to The Associated Press that the mass murder was “inspiring” — but said the group was not claiming any part in the killings.
Three gunmen armed with Kalashnikov rifles stormed the newsroom during an editorial meeting late Wednesday morning.
They went into the next-door office first, witnesses said, but they quickly realized their mistake and headed toward Charlie Hebdo.
Cartoonist Corinne (Coco) Rey told French newspaper L'Humanité that she was returning to the newsroom after picking up her daughter from daycare when the gunmen met her at the front door. They spoke fluent French and claimed to be with Al Qaeda, she said.
At gunpoint, they forced Rey to enter the security code to the building and then stormed the office. She survived the attack.
The terrorists asked for specific journalists by name during their gun rampage, French media reported.
Stéphane (Charb) Charbonnier, the magazine's editor, publisher and cartoonist, was killed in the attack.
His last cartoon showed the Islamic State's leader. The comic, entitled "Still No Attacks in France," had a caricature of an extremist fighter saying, "Just wait — we have until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes."
The attack killed nine other staff members, including three more cartoonists — Jean (Cabu) Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard (Tignous) Verlhac — and economist Bernard Maris, who wrote for the magazine under the name "Oncle Bernard."
Two police officers were also killed. Graphic video showed a masked gunman execute a wounded cop just outside of the office. A second officer was killed in his police car, cops said.
DAILY NEWS PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONThe newsroom is about five miles from the Eiffel Tower and less than half a mile from the Bastille.
Another 11 people were injured, including four in serious condition, French officials said.
The Wednesday attack is the deadliest in France since a 1935 rampage on Paris' Boulevard du Temple that killed 18, French newspaper Le Monde reported. In July 1995, a bomb at the Saint-Michel subway station in Paris killed eight people and injured about 150.
The three gunmen fled the scene in two cars after the Wednesday shooting, said Luc Poignant, an official of the police union.
Police say they believe they switched cars north of the city.
EPA/YOAN VALAT / BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/GETTY IMAGESPublishing director Charb (left) and cartoonist Jean (Cabu) Cabut were both killed Wednesday.
Police impounded a black Citroen, the same type of car seen speeding off from the crime scene, in northeastern Paris, CNN reported. Police are investigating the car, but it is not clear if it is the same one the terrorists used as their first getaway vehicle.
The hunt for the suspects is ongoing.
Benoit Bringer, a witness to the attack, told the iTele network that he saw multiple masked men armed with automatic weapons in the office.
Some witnesses also said they saw a rocket launcher, French media reported.
EPA/TIM SOMERSET / GUILLAUME BAPTISTE/AFP/GETTY IMAGESCartoonists Bernard (Tignous) Verlhac (left) and Georges Wolinski were among the 10 magazine staffers killed in the attack.
Video footage showed two gunmen in black at a crossroads appearing to fire down one of the streets. Cries of "Allahu akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great" — and "The prophet has been avenged!" could be heard among the gunshots.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The extremist Islamic State has long threatened to attack France. Just minutes before the shooting, Charlie Hebdo tweeted a cartoon apparently showing ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaking into a microphone.
The black-and-white sketch showed a bearded man saying, "And above all health." The accompanying tweet read, "Best wishes, by the way."
CHRISTOPHE ABRAMOWITZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGESThe victims include French economist Bernard Maris, who wrote for the magazine under the name 'Oncle Bernard.'
The Paris newsroom was firebombed in 2011 after the magazine made fun of the Prophet Muhammad.
Charlie Hebdo changed its name to "Charia Hebdo" for its Nov. 3, 2011, issue — a reference to Islamic Sharia law. The issue listed Muhammad as its editor-in-chief and featured a cartoon of the prophet on its cover with the caption "100 lashes if you are not dying of laughter," BBC News reported at the time.
A year later, the magazine infuriated worshippers worldwide again when it published a cartoon that showed Muhammad naked.
The 2012 caricature was entitled, "Muhammad: a star is born" and depicted a bearded figure displaying his buttocks and genitals. The sketch made reference to that year's controversial film "Innocence of Muslims."
ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGESCharlie Hedbo editor and publisher, Stéphane (Charb) Charbonnier, shows a special edition on Nov. 2, 2011 in front of the magazine's offices, which were destroyed by a petrol bomb attack. Charb died in Wednesday's attack.
The Wednesday attack rattled Parisians close to the site and across the city.
Joseph Marciano, a Jewish Moroccan, lives on the same street as Charlie Habdo's offices.
"My family moved to France from Morocco in 1971 because of the anti-Semitic attacks there at the time," he told the Daily News. "Given the current situation here, as a Jew, I am now considering leaving France."
Razzy Hammadi, a local deputy politician in Seine Saint Denis, a region just north of Paris, said the tragedy united the community.
PreviousNext
"As a population, we need to gather together and stand up against such violence," Hammadi said. "We won't let this barbaric act stop us from showing our solidarity."
President Obama condemned the "cowardly, evil" attack Wednesday.
"France is America's oldest ally, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world," the President said in a statement. "France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the president's condemnation.
ANNE GELBARD/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
PHILIPPE DUPEYRAT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
At least 12 people were killed in the shooting carried out by a small group of masked gunmen.
"Today's murders are part of a larger confrontation — not between civilizations but between civilization itself and those who oppose a civilized world," Kerry said.
He continued: "They may wield weapons, but we here in the US and in France wield something far more powerful … not just a pen, but freedom … Free expression and a free press are core values, universal values, principles that can be attacked but never eradicated."
Queen Elizabeth II also tweeted her condolences to the victims and her thoughts and prayers to France on Wednesday.
The violence shocked France-based nonprofit Reporters without Borders.
"An attack like this has never happened before. This kind of thing happens in Somalia, Mogadishu, Pakistan, where there are Islamic groups," the group's Secretary General Christophe Deloire told the Daily News. "Democracy is being targeted. This is an unimaginable abomination."
Charlie Hedbo — short for hebdomadaire, which means weekly — was first published in 1970, after another satirical magazine was banned for mocking the death of former French President Charles de Gaulle.
It was named for Charlie Brown cartoons and has infamously skewered many public figures with comic art: Pope Benedict XVI and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy have both been featured.
