Twelve people, eight of them journalists, were killed after two men entered the Paris office of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo and opened fire, apparently in retaliation for the magazine’s publication of materials that many Muslims deemed insulting to Islam, including cartoons that depicted Mohammed.
Journalists killed in the attack included editor and cartoonist Stéphane “Charb” Charbonnier, 47; Bernard Maris, 68, an economist who wrote a regular column as “Uncle Bernard”; cartoonists Georges Wolinski, 80, Jean “Cabu” Cabut, 76, Bernard “Tignous” Verlhac, 57, and Philippe Honore, 73; psychoanalyst and columnist Elsa Cayat; and proof-reader Mustapha Ourrad.
Also killed were Frederic Boisseau, 42, a caretaker who was in the reception area at the time of the attack; Michel Renaud, a visitor to the office; and police officers Franck Brinsolaro, who was acting as Charbonnier’s bodyguard, and Ahmed Merabet, 42, who was gunned down outside the office as the attackers fled.
Authorities identified two of the attackers as brothers Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34. Following a nationwide manhunt, the brothers were located at the office of a sign production company in Dammartin-en-Goële and killed in a shootout with police.